Gakuen Academy
by Hikaru-NeeChan
Summary: Hikaru and Ryuto Sohma are twins who have just transferred to Gakuen Academy-a famous school known for its wide variety of culture and prestigious academic standards. But when they get there, they not only find new classes but new and weird friends! NOTE: UNDERGOING REWRITING SOON.
1. Chapter One

Hikaru

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Auntie asked.

Ryuto and I nodded at the same time. "We're sure," we said in unison.

Auntie smiled and kissed both of us on our foreheads. "Take care then," she said. "I'll be by after school to pick you two up, okay? Have fun!" Auntie waved as she walked away.

Ryuto and I walked out of the main office, clutching our new school schedules.

"I can't believe we only have class together," I complained. "This sucks." I held up my schedule and pointed it out to my twin: Physical education.

"It's better than none, Hikaru," Ryuto said.

I sighed. "I guess. I'll go find my class now. I have Honors World History and Geography first." I waved to my twin. "See you at lunch!"

"Okay!" Ryuto shouted back. "Save me a seat, will you?"

"If I get there first!" I shouldered my messenger bag as I walked across the large green lawn.

The school called Gakuen Academy was known across the world for its wide variety of culture. Its building held only a couple hundred students from every country of the world and the classes were very prestigious.

"Crap." I looked at my schedule and then at the large building number. They didn't match at all.

"Excuse me, but are you lost?"

I turned around to see a blonde boy standing behind me with green eyes and large bushy eyebrows. Trying not to make a face, I nodded and handed him my schedule.

"Let's see, you have history first period… Oh, honors history." He looked at me. "And you're a…?" The boy spoke with a British accent, I noticed.

"Sophomore," I said. "I just transferred here. I'm Hikaru Sohma."  
>"I'm Arthur Kirkland," said the boy, reaching out his hand which I shook. "I'm a junior here so I can show you around."<p>

I smiled gratefully and thanked him.

"So you're looking for the history building which isn't that hard," Arthur told me. "It's near the library so you have easy access to it." He rambled on, talking about the buildings and pointed out from me when three boys came up to us and blocked our way to my classroom.

One of the boys looked like an albino rabbit with white hair and red eyes. The second had dark brown hair and olive green eyes. The third guy…looked like a pervert. He had blonde hair that went down to his shoulders and blue eyes with a twinkle that made me want to run away.

"Who is this, Arthur?" asked the blonde in a French accent. "A new female student…honhonhon…"

"What do you want, you frog?" Arthur demanded in an angry tone. His shout surprised me, as I thought that he was the type to always stay calm.

But the blonde didn't pay attention to him. His eyes were on me. "What's your name, mademoiselle? I am called Francis Bonefey."

"Hikaru Sohma," I said softly.

"Well, Hikaru, I don't think someone as sweet as you should be hanging out with a limey like Arthur here," said the albino in a German accent. "I'm Gilbert and this is Antonio, by the way. You should come hang out with us."

I took a step back and shook my head. "I have to go to class. I'm sorry," I said as I slipped between them. I ducked inside my classroom just as the bell rang. When I turned around, I saw that there were three other students already seated. All of them were boys—one had slick blonde hair, another with brown and a weird curl sticking out of his hair, and a third with a black bob. There was a man standing at the chalkboard, writing on it so I guessed he was the teacher. I went up to him.

"Excuse me," I said. "My name is Hikaru Sohma."

The teacher peered at me through his glasses. "Oh, yes. You must be the new student. I'm Mr. Henry. Hikaru, you can sit by…" He looked back at the seats. "You can sit by Ludwig. I suppose you already have all your supplies, hmm?"

I nodded.

"I guess we'll just have to see where you are today." He stopped writing on the board. "Go ahead and take your seat."

I sat down next to the blonde and shifted uncomfortably after taking a peek at my neighbor. The blonde, Ludwig, looked intimidating. He had the posture I've seen on soldiers—like he wasn't the one to laugh out loud or slouch in his seat. He had light blue eyes that stared ahead without a sign of emotion in them.

Other students had started entering through the door and I noticed that all of them were boys. Suddenly I was wishing for more classes with my brother.

"Everyone, today we have a new student," said Mr. Henry as the rest of the students settled in their seats. Several of my classmates turned to look at me and their stares made me shrink back into my seat. "Her name is Hikaru Sohma. She just transferred here today so please make her feel welcome."

_As far as feeling welcome gets in a classroom full of boys goes,_ I thought, pulling out a notebook and a pencil from my bag as Mr. Henry started talking.

"Today we'll be starting a project about the world's history so I'll be putting each of you into groups of four. In your groups, you'll be researching different eras in history and at the end of your research, you and your group will present it to the class." Mr. Henry then started assigning the groups, putting me into a group with Ludwig Beilschmidt, Kiku Honda, and Feliciano Vargas.

The first thing after he released us, I heard a cry above all the noise in the room: "Did you hear that, Ludwig! We're in the same group!"

The boy with the weird curl pounced on Ludwig, almost choking him.

"Get off me, you dummkopf!" Ludwig shouted. He had the voice of a soldier, too: harsh and irritated.

"Don't mind them, Sohma-san," said a voice. I looked up to see the boy with the black bob. He had dark brown eyes and instantly, I knew he was Japanese—like me. "I am Kiku Honda. We will be working together from now on so please feel free to ask questions."

I felt the weight of a body push me down. "Ve! She's so cute!" The boy with the weird curl voice sounded way too happy. "Don't you think so, Ludwig!" The boy started crushing me into the table.

"Feliciano, please, you're hurting her!" Kiku pleaded.

"I'm sorry," Feliciano apologized as I caught my breath.

I turned my head around to face him. "No it's ok—" I stopped as I felt a soft peck on my cheek. "Ah…"

"Feliciano!" Ludwig yelled.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Feliciano cried, falling on the floor.

"No, it's all right! I don't mind! You just surprised me!" I shouted. I pulled him to his feet and dusted him off. "Now, should we get started on this project?" I asked, picking up a card Mr. Henry passed out during the chaos.

"What are we doing?" Ludwig asked.

I held up the card so the boys could see. "The Roman Empire," I said. "This will be easy."

Ludwig nodded and started writing in my notebook. He wrote important dates as I talked about it with Feliciano and Kiku. As we worked together, I found Ludwig less intimidating. He was more protective over Feliciano like an older brother while Feliciano seemed to look up to him.

"Nii-san," I said to Kiku as Ludwig was trying to get Feliciano out from under a table. "Nii-san, are those two brothers?"

Kiku looked at Ludwig and Feliciano and shook his head. "Ludwig and Feliciano are only friends, best friends if you want. They both have older brothers though."

I watched as Ludwig bonked Feliciano on the head, calling him a dummkopf. "I thought so."

"Hey, you two!" Ludwig called. "You're going to be late to class!"

Not realizing the bell rang, I packed up my bag and followed the boys outside.

"So, Hikaru, where are you from?" Feliciano asked, walking backwards.

"Japan," I said. "Um, you should really watch where you're going."

Feliciano bumped into Ludwig, who turned his head to glare at him but Ludwig's light blue eyes met mine and quickly, I turned away from him with a red face.

I gotta go to my next class," I stammered. "I guess I'll see you guys around. Bye!" I took off in the opposite direction, feeling like I was on fire.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Soo I finally figured out how to edit my story *laughs* I'm sorry. I had to edit this and take out Ryuto's part because it was supposed to be the second chapter. I finally figured out how to so now Chapter One is shortened down to Hikaru's point of view.


	2. Chapter Two

Ryuto

This is how my day went as an outline: As soon as I left Hikaru to find my class, I was attacked by a weird American who said I should join the football team. Then after I found my classes, I realized that it was full of idiots and I could not believe that my sister and I had entered Gakuen Academy—the most famous academic school—to find ourselves surrounded by morons.

"God, I hope Hikaru's all right," I muttered to myself, clutching the strap of my messenger bag. I entered the cafeteria to find my twin and saw her sitting alone with her lunch untouched in front of her. I started toward her when three guys joined her; then, I ran for my sister.

Hikaru smiled as I approached her. "Hi, Ryuto," she said. "Guys, this is my twin brother, Ryuto. Ryuto, this is Feliciano, Ludwig, and Kiku. They're in my history class."

"You look so much like Hikaru!" cried the boy she pointed out as Feliciano.

"Yeah," I said, staring at his weird curl. "We're twins." I sat down next to my sister and pulled out my lunch box.

As we started eating, other students filled up the tables. Only a few, including Hikaru, were girls and the rest were all boys. While other tables were being taken, a group of eight boys came up to our table and crowded around us. I recognized the American guy immediately—he had blue eyes and unruly blonde hair—and he recognized me…unfortunately.

"Hey! You're the dude who ran away from me!" the American shouted.

Hikaru glanced at me. "You know him?" she asked.

"Ah," I said, my face reddening. "He's just some guy I met earlier."

"Oh, that's right!" the American said. "I forgot to introduce myself—I'm Alfred Jones and I'm the hero!"

I gawked at him. "I'm Ryuto Sohma," I told him.

"Ah! No way! You're Japanese! Have you met my friend, Kiku? He's—"

"Please, quiet down, you fool," said a guy with caterpillar eyebrows. "You're disturbing him. Ah, I suppose you found your classes all right, Miss Sohma?" the guy asked Hikaru.

"Yes, thank you!" my twin said with a smile. "Ryuto, this is Arthur. He helped me find my class today." She seemed to be enjoying herself.

The rest of the boys were introduced to my sister and me—Lovino Vargas, who looked much like Feliciano only with a temper whereas Feliciano was happy-go-lucky; Francis Bonefey, who Hikaru didn't like at all; Ivan Braginski, a large guy with whitish hair and purple eyes; Yao Wang, a Chinese with a long brown ponytail; Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, a Spanish guy who seemed take an interest in Lovino Vargas; and finally, Gilbert Beilschmidt, an albino guy who kept claiming he was awesome.

Hikaru immediately immersed herself in a conversation with Ludwig and Feliciano, leaving the rest as my companions.

"Ryuto, right?" Gilbert asked me and I nodded. He leaned close to me. "Your sister seems to be taking an interest in my little brother, doesn't she?"

I glanced at him and then at Hikaru. I watched as her cheeks turned a slight tinge of pink as she talked to Ludwig, who also seemed to be blushing slightly.

"And he's your brother?" I asked Gilbert.

Gilbert grinned and immediately, I stood up. "Hikaru," we're going," I growled.

Hikaru and the others stared at me. "Wait, what?" she gasped.

I shouldered my bag and glared at my wide-eyed sister. "I said we're going." I started to turn around when I was met by a pretty blonde girl and a blonde boy standing behind her. They both had green eyes, only the girl's own was much lighter.

"Um," said the girl in a whisper. "She held out a small plate of delicate-looking cookies. "I…I made these in my cooking class…for you. I…I, uh, heard you were new so…" The girl shoved the plate into my hands and ran off with a blush on her face.

"Look," said the boy with a stern expression on his face. "My little sister is very sweet so don't you dare go hurting her. Do you understand?"

I nodded. When the boy left, I sat back down, staring at the cookies.

"Defeated by the Swiss," said Gilbert, smirking. "That was Lily and her big brother. My guess is that Lily has a crush on you even though you've just transferred here."

"Do you want to know who else likes you, Ryuto?" asked Ivan.

I looked at Ivan. There seemed to be an evil aura surrounding him, and I reminded myself not to get on his bad side. "Who?" I asked.

"My little sister," Ivan said. "Her name is Natalia. She's…she's scary."

"Are you serious?" The thought of older brother being scared of a younger sibling was, in a word, weird. Sure, Hikaru—who was only a few minutes younger than me—could be a little frightening but that was when she got competitive.

Ivan smiled creepily. "Da, I'm serious," he said.

"Ryuto," said Hikaru, poking me with her pinky. "You might want to finish your lunch. It's almost over." She clicked her wooden chopsticks in her fingers playfully.

When I finished my lunch, the bell ran and everyone left, calling out to each other. Surprisingly, a few of the others called out to me, too. After a moment of wonder, I shouted back: "See ya!"

This school just might be all right.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

As I might have mentioned in the previous chapter, I didn't know how to separate Ryuto's chapter from Hikaru's chapter so I just uploaded it in the same chapter. Now I figured it out and thus, Ryuto's chapter is separated! *laughs* Thank you for reading!（＾ｖ＾）


	3. Chapter Three

Hikaru

"And, go!" my P.E. teacher—Mr. Quinn—shouted.

Ryuto and I took off at the starting line on the asphalt running track. Today, in P.E., we were being timed on the mile run—while the rest of our classmates including all the guys from our lunch table watched us. My twin and I kept up a fast pace, taking long strides. Even though I had shorter legs than Ryuto, I was still able to keep up.

"Looks like you got a cheerleader, Hikaru," Ryuto said as we completed lap one out of four.

I turned my head towards the stands to see Feliciano jumping up and down yelling my name. I waved to him and he waved back wildly. Then Feliciano pulled up Ludwig and made him waved, too, but Ludwig shouted something at him so Feliciano let go. Ludwig pushed back a few strands of blonde hair that got loose and I watched him, he caught sight of me.

I turned by head away quickly and sprinted forward, finishing my mile in a total of seven minutes.

"You two were so amazing!" Feliciano cried as Ryuto and I drank water.

"Amazing," I repeated, slouching against the stands.

"Okay, guys!" Mr. Quinn shouted. "Pair up with someone and start playing one-on-one basketball with them!"

Immediately, I reached for my twin but Mr. Quinn stopped us. "Oh, I'm assigning partners," he said. "Ryuto, you're with Natalia and Hikaru, you're with Ludwig."

Ryuto looked like he was about to die as a girl who had the same features as Ivan Braginski pulled him away. I cursed silently and walked up to Ludwig, picking up a basketball on my way to him. I passed the ball to Ludwig.

He bounced it once and tossed it into the hoop. I watched as he then picked it up again and turned to me. "Well?" he asked in his German accent. "Are we going to play or what?"

I nodded and he passed the ball to me. "Just to let you know," I said, "I won't go easy on you."

Ludwig smiled. "Fine then," he said. "I accept your challenge."

Our game began with him stealing the ball from me. Soon enough, we were tied by seven points but before one of us could score another point, Mr. Quinn called us in to go change.

"Damn," I wheezed, clinging onto my twin's shirt sleeve. "He's so…he's so…"

"Hot?" Ryuto suggested and I blushed furiously. "Come on, I know you're thinking it."

"I am not!" I felt my face become redder. "Ugh, whatever, Ryuto," I said, pushing the girl's locker room door open. I entered into the locker room to find Natalia and Lily—the two girls who supposedly like my twin—and a few other girls changing back into their uniforms. I started changing out of my P.E. clothes when Natalia came up to me.

"You," she said as I folded up my tee-shirt. "You're Ryuto's twin right?"

I froze, standing there in my shorts and tank top. "This is awkward," I said. "But, yes. I am his twin."

"Good, I want you to become my friend. I need to get close to him."

I gawked at her. What the hell was she saying? Ryuto and I only have been here a day and this girl was… I rushed to put on my uniform and grabbed my bag as the last bell of the day rang. "You see, uh, Natalia," I said hesitantly. "I really don't decide who my brother has a crush on or who he goes out with. I think you should bring it up with him." I backed off quickly because she seriously looked like she going to pull a knife on me. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'll talk to him if you want me to." I gave a shaky smile and ran out of the changing room.

"What took you so long?" Ryuto asked me as we ran to the front of the school.

"I'll tell you later," I said as the guys from the lunch tables appeared around the corner.

"Tell him what later?" Gilbert asked with an idiot grin on his face.

"Nothing." Behind the guys, a car pulled up with Auntie in the driver's seat. "We have to go," I said. "We'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Right," Feliciano said, giving me a hug.

I patted him on the back awkwardly and said goodbye to the others. As Ryuto said his goodbyes, Auntie opened up the backseat door for me.

"Is one of those boys your boyfriend, Hikaru-san?" Auntie asked me.

I glanced behind me and by chance, I caught Ludwig's eyes. "No," I said, feeling my face burn as I scooted to the other side of the backseat.

Auntie ruffled Ryuto's hair as he got in and closed the behind him. When she got in the driver's seat, she started the car and drove off towards home. The first day of school was finally over.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

In this chapter I sort of BSed it because I really wanted to get to the main storyline which is something I will not tell you as the readers (*-`ω´- )人 On another note, I finally uploaded it after soo many day! By the way, the teachers at Gakuen Academy aren't countries. I made every country a student so the teachers are just some other characters that I based off my current/previous teachers. Enjoy it until I write the rest! (^_-)


	4. Chapter Four

Ryuto

"Make sure you do your homework, you two!" Auntie called as Hikaru and I made our way upstairs. "And practice your music!"

"We will!" we both called back. We heard her laugh, saying something about living with twins.

"And don't forget to walk the dogs!" Auntie shouted.

The two of us rolled our eyes. "All right!" we shouted back.

"Two hours," Hikaru said as she turned the corner, heading to her bedroom.

"Got it," I said as I turned the opposite corner to my bedroom.

I tossed my bag down on my bed and changed out of my uniform. Then, I sat down at my desk, took out my notebook and started on my homework. An hour later, as I was putting my homework away, I heard the sound of a piano playing sweetly coming from the hallway. I went outside and heard humming seeping out of an open door in the middle of the hall. I peeked into the room to see Hikaru's back facing me as she was playing the piano to the trees and birds outside. My violin sat in the corner untouched but I didn't want to play it tonight. Instead, I put a leash on mine and Hikaru's Akita dogs and took them outside for a walk.

"Hey, it's Ryuto!" a voice shouted—an annoying American voice, to be specific—when I started walking down the sidewalk of the street. Alfred ran up to me, practically dragging another boy with him. "Dude, I didn't know you lived here!"

_Was I supposed to tell him?_ I thought. "I didn't know you lived here," I said.

Alfred grinned stupidly. "Dude, this is my brother, Matthew Williams." He pushed a boy who looked exactly like him except for his eye color towards me.

"H-hi," Matthew said quietly.

"Aren't you from my language class?" I asked. He looked familiar but I wasn't sure if it was him or Alfred.

"Yes," Matthew answered. "We also have math together."

"Dude, Ryuto, we should hang out!" Alfred suddenly shouted. His voice made me jump, especially compared to Matthew's. There was no way those two were brothers, half-brothers maybe.

"Right now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I got burgers at home if you want. Plus we got these super scary games we could play!"

I shook my head. "No thank you. I have to walk my dogs."

"Cool! We'll walk with you!"

Alfred started walking ahead, blabbering about something while Matthew and I lagged behind.

"So, uh, do you like it here?" Matthew asked.

"I guess," I said, shrugging as I looked around the neighborhood. "Hikaru and I have only been here a few days so I really can't tell."  
>"When did you and your sister move here?"<p>

"Two days ago. We came from Japan and our stuff was already set up so we didn't have to wait. We just unpacked and arranged our furniture."

"Ah, I remember that," Alfred said. "There were movers down the street and the guys and I were wondering what was up."

"The guys?" I asked curiously.

"You know, Feliciano, Arthur, Francis, Yao, Ludwig, Kiku, Antonio, Lovino, Gilbert, Ivan. They're all good guys if that's what you're worried about. Sure they're weird and all but you don't really have to worry about them, especially with your sister around. I'm sure you and Ludwig will do a good job protecting her."

"Ludwig?" I asked. "Why Ludwig?"

Alfred grinned at me. "Come on, Matthew!" he said, grabbing his brother's arm. Alfred dragged Matthew down a driveway and yelled, "See you tomorrow!"

I gawked as the brothers disappeared into a house. Then, I turned around and headed home, muttering about weird the American.

"Dinner's done!" Auntie called out as I entered through the door.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Hikaru asked, walking down the stairs.

Maybe I didn't understand what Alfred said to me back in the street but now I did. My sister, with her light brown eyes and short black hair, looked innocent like Lily, the girl who offered me cookies.

"Just for a walk," I told her, releasing the dogs from their leashes.

Hikaru smiled. "Come on," she said. "Auntie made gyouza tonight."

"Good. I'm starving."

We entered the dining room and sat down under the kotastu.

"So what did you want to talk to me about earlier?" I asked Hikaru.

"Oh, that," she said. "Yeah, so the girl named Natalia, right? She wanted to become my friend so she could get close to you." Hikaru let out a short laugh. "Can you believe that?" My twin looked at me seriously. "You don't like her, do you?"

"She is pretty," I said, thinking about the way her purple eyes glittered at me earlier today.

"What about that other girl? Lily? She gave you cookies today and she barely knew you." Hikaru gave me a sly smile.

I felt myself blush. "Dammit, Hikaru," I muttered.

"Hungry, kids?" Auntie called, appearing with the food in her hands.

"Yes," Hikaru and I said in unison.

We started eating the dinner and when we finished, Auntie and Hikaru started clearing the table as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," I called out, heading toward the door. I opened it, shooing Hikaru's dog away from the door and looked up to see Ludwig and Gilbert standing in front of me with a plate of desserts in their hands. "Hell—hello."

"You live here, Ryuto?" Ludwig said in astonishment.

"Um, yeah, I do," I told him.

Gilbert elbowed his brother in the stomach and grinned at him. "So that means Hikaru lives here, too, right?"

I stared at him and watched Ludwig's face turn red. "Right."

"Who's that, Ryuto-san?" Auntie entered into the front hallway. "Friends?"

"Yes," I said. "Hikaru and I met them today. This is Ludwig and Gilbert."

"Our mother told us to bring these over," Ludwig said, showing Auntie the plate. "She heard you recently moved in so…"

Auntie smiled and took the plate from him. "Come in please and make yourselves at home." Suddenly, Hikaru's dog jumped on her and Auntie yelped. "Hikaru-san, come get your dog!"

"Hana-chan!" Hikaru sung, coming out of the kitchen. "Hana-chan, are you—?" She stopped short as Hana jumped on her but Hikaru stared at the Beilschmidt brothers with wide eyes like a deer in the headlights. "Hana-chan, come outside with me," she said, speaking in Japanese with a small voice. Then she left with Hana following her.

"Is she okay?" Auntie asked.

"I have no idea," I said glancing at Ludwig as he watched Hikaru play with her dog through the kitchen window.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Enter Canada-san! *laughs* Sorry. I think that Matthew and Ryuto would be best friends out of everyone because Ryuto...well he's not much of a talker like everyone else. Alfred scares him so Matthew is going to be his best friend *laughs* Next chapter, ah, well...just read! (^_−)


	5. Chapter Five

Hikaru

"Dammit," I cursed in Japanese. "Dammit." I tossed the red rubber ball roughly to Hana-chan who caught it in midair. "This is so embarrassing!" I shouted to the sky in Japanese. Hana-chan gave me back the ball and at that time, the back door opened. I turned to see Ludwig silently closing the door.

"Hi, Hikaru," Ludwig said.

"Oh, it's you," I muttered. I brushed my hair behind my ears. "Hi, Ludwig."

Ludwig bent down and patted Hana-chan on her head when she went over to him. "What's her name?" he asked, looking up at me with his blue eyes glistening at me.

"Hana-chan," I said, turning away to hide my blush. "She's an Akita dog." _Why is he so…? _I thought, unable to complete the question.

"I have three dogs at home."

I glanced at him. "Really? I didn't think you…were the type to have…dogs." _God, I'm an idiot_, I thought.

"If you'd like, I can take you over to my house and show them to you," Ludwig suggested. "Or we can go on a walk sometime…with our dogs."

"That'd be fi—" I stopped short, realizing what he just said and felt my face burn crimson. "That'd be fine." I took a peek at Ludwig from the corner of my eyes and saw that he was also blushing.

"So you like dogs?"

"Yeah, they're so cute and irresistible, like cats. But I'm more of a dog person." I tossed the ball to Hana-chan and she ran to get it.

Ludwig appeared at my side. "Me, too," he said, smiling.

Hana-chan ran back towards us with the ball in her mouth. Unexpectedly, she jumped on us, her weight bringing me and Ludwig to the ground.

"Hana-chan," I cried. "What are you doing?"

"Ack, she's licking me!" Ludwig shouted.

"Off, Hana-chan!" I pushed my dog away from us, laughing as I saw Ludwig who was glistening with dog saliva.

He glared at me with a red face. "What are you laughing at?" he demanded.

"You look funny," I said, sitting up. Hana-chan came up to me and I patted her head.

Ludwig sat up with me. "You have grass in your hair," he said. He reached over my head and pulled a blade of grass out of my hair.

At the same time, I reached my hand up to my hair and touched his hand. Instantly, I pulled away and stood, dusting myself off. "I think your brother is calling you," I said, seeing Gilbert waving at us.

Ludwig nodded. "I better get going then," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." I watched as Ludwig went to his brother, who said something to him. The two left the house, saying goodbye to Auntie and Ryuto. Then, I slumped to the ground and buried my face in my lap to hide my blushing face.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

So in this chapter, it's a little fluffy. I haven't written a lot of fluff since...forever so I just broke it out right now. As my friend suggested, I'm going to do a little surprise point of view from...guess who or find out later! *laughs* φ(^∇^ )


	6. Chapter Six

Ludwig

When I first met her, she was quiet but as soon as we started talking, I saw a twinkle in her light brown eyes whenever she smiled or laughed. Her black hair was soft when I touched it and the way her face turned pink whenever something unexpected happened to her made me want to burn her image into my head.

"_Scheisse_," I growled. "This is hard."

"What's hard, brother?" Gilbert asked. "Homework?"

I turned my head to see Gilbert leaning against my door with a smirk on his face. "No," I muttered. "I'm done with homework."

"Oh, then is it a girl?" My silence made him laugh. "It is! You're falling for that Hikaru girl!" My brother leaned on me with his heavy weight. "Oh, my little is in love!"

"I am not!" I protested.

"Then why are you blushing?" Another laugh came from Gilbert. "You know, I can help you with your little crush."

"What are you saying?" I demanded. "As far as I know, you've never gone out with a girl!"

Gilbert glared at me. "Anyway, I will help you with your crush if you like it or not. Francis, Antonio, and I will set out tomorrow so be watching. _Schlaf gut_, Ludwig," my brother said, closing the door behind him. "Sleep well!"

As soon as Gilbert closed the door, I slumped on my bed and closed my eyes. Immediately, I saw Hikaru's face behind my eyelids.

"I have it bad," I muttered to myself.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Well, well, well, Ludwig. It seems like you've got the love-bug *laughs* I love Ludwig/Germany. Don't get me wrong. I wish he were a real person that way I'd...uh...I'd...forget it. Anyway, back to the story. So I told my friend that I wanted to do a point of view from Ludwig and she said I should do it so I did it and now here it is. I'm so happy ｡◕‿◕｡ Enjoy!


	7. Chapter Seven

Ryuto

"You should tell her," Hikaru said.

My twin and I were walking towards the school courtyard. Auntie had just dropped us off and now we were going to meet up with the others.

"Who?" I asked, staring ahead.

"Lily. You've been looking at her since Auntie dropped us off."

I shook my head, tearing my eyes away from the shy blonde girl. "No. I'm okay."

"Then at least thank her for the cookies yesterday. Didn't you like them?"

"I did but…" My eyes wandered ahead of me and saw her again. Lily and her brother stood together in a small group.

"But?"

"I'll go say something to her then," I said, sighing.

Hikaru smiled. "Go then," she told me, pushing me forward.

"Okay, just give me space."  
>"All right. I'll go find the guys. I'll see you later."<p>

"See you." When Hikaru left, I turned around to see Lily still standing in the same spot. I took a deep breath and started heading toward her. I tapped her shoulder once I reached her.

She turned around her green eyes widened when she saw me. "H-h-hi," Lily stammered. Unfortunately, I also caught the attention of her brother.

"Hi, Lily," I said. "I wanted to thank you for the cookies yesterday. They were really good."

Her smile was as sweet as her cookies. "Um, you're welcome."

Feeling myself turn red, I reached into my bag and pulled out a carefully wrapped paper bag and handed it to her. "Here. I baked something for you in return. I hope you like it."

"Say thank you to him, Lily," said her brother as her face turned pink.

I smiled at her. "I guess I'll see you a—"

"Oh, Ryuto!" shouted a voice. Someone collided into my and wrapped their arms around me tightly.

I looked down at the person to see Natalia grinning at me. "Hi, Natalia," I said. I glanced at Ivan's little sister and then at Lily and her brother, who was glaring at me.

"I've been looking for you!" Natalia said. "But now I found you!"

I felt Lily's brother's glare harden on me. "I have to go," I said, trying to release myself from Natalia. She had a very strong grip and was almost choking me. I gave up and eventually, dragged myself with Natalia still holding onto me. When I found the guys, I saw that Hikaru wasn't there.

"Where's my sister?" I asked.

"Why's my sister hanging onto you?" Ivan asked.

"I don't know! Tell her to get off me!"

"No," protested Natalia. "You belong to me!" Her arms tightened around me.

"You barely know me!" I shouted, struggling to break away and finally succeeded.

"But—!"

"Hey!"

I turned around to see my sister standing behind me with Kiku following her.

"Where have you been?" I asked her.

"Trying to find you guys," she said. "I found nii-san but I couldn't find the rest of you."

"We were around here, ve," Feliciano said happily.

Hikaru dropped her bag. "Really?" she muttered. Her eyes wandered over to Ludwig but quickly she looked away. "So today I have to stay after school for piano, Ryuto."

"Yeah, I heard you talking about it with Auntie," I said.

"You play piano, Hikaru-san?" Kiku asked.

Hikaru nodded. "I play piano and Ryuto plays the violin," she said.

The bell rang at the moment and everyone started walking away but then Alfred stopped us.

"Why don't we hang out after school today?" Alfred shouted.

"It's only Thursday, you idiot," Arthur told him.

"Besides I'm staying after school for piano," Hikaru said.

"So am I," Ludwig agreed. "But for another club."

"You guys are party poopers," Alfred said. "Then let's hang out tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow's Friday so…" I murmured.

"Tomorrow it is!" Feliciano proclaimed, throwing his arms around Hikaru and Ludwig and pulled them together. The two blushed brightly while Kiku and I opened our mouths in protest but Gilbert interrupted us.

"Friday will be the awesomest day ever!" he said. "But not as awesome as me!"

"What do you say guys?" Alfred asked.

"Definitely," Hikaru and I said in unison while the others agreed.

We left for our classes as the warning bell rang and I had a feeling of excitement bursting in my chest as I walked away.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Sorry, guys...or those of you who actually read my stuff. I haven't posted in a while because I was a little busy yesterday (which was when I was supposed to post again) but I couldn't because I was busy. In this chapter, I wanted Ryuto and Lily to have a little push in their relationship because they're just too shy to get to know each other. And yeah...thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter Eight

Hikaru

My fingers stroked the smooth keys of the piano, counting to three. Then, I started pressing each key in order as I read the notes on the paper in front of me and hummed to myself. As I hit the last key, the boy named Roderich Edelstein clapped.

"You're an excellent piano player," Roderich said.

"Thank you," I said. "I've been playing since I was eight."

"Now remember to practice at home and come back next week Thursday to practice for your recital," Roderich said.

"Yes, I won't forget." I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall. It was already three in the afternoon. Classes got out an hour ago and I had a little time to kill before Auntie picked me up.

The door opened and a girl with long curly brown hair and green eyes came in. The girl then threw herself at Roderich, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Are you done, Roderich?" the girl asked him. I couldn't help but notice that she was very beautiful as she ran her fingers through Roderich's black hair.

Roderich smiled. "Yes, Elizabeta," he said. "I'm done." Roderich turned to me. "You can go home now. Make sure to keep practicing at home."

I nodded. "I will," I said. I picked my bag and walked out of the room. As soon as I closed the door, I sighed. Those two were so cute together! It was obvious they were going out and they were so damn cute! "Forever alone," I muttered in Japanese. I turned the corner and ran into a clothed wall.

"Hikaru," said a familiar German voice.

I looked up to see Ludwig standing in front of me. "Hi, Ludwig," I said, looking away. I pulled away from him with a blush on my face.

"What are you doing here?"

"Piano…practice. What about you?"

"I had to do some research for the project in history."

"Right," I said. "I didn't work on it yesterday…I'm sorry."

"It's all right," he told me.

There was a pause between us. "Um, yeah, I should really get going," I said, breaking the awkward silence. I walked away, feeling his eyes on my back.

"Wait!" Ludwig caught up to me in a few strides. "On Friday, what time are we meeting?"

"Alfred said right after school so I guess we'll just be heading over there."

When we arrived at the front of the school, we sat down on a bench under a shaded tree.

"So who are you waiting for?" Ludwig asked.

"My aunt," I told him, hugging my bag closer to my chest.

"Your aunt is very kind."

"She is," I agreed. "That's why my family chose her to live with us."

"Your family?"

"Yeah. All of my family lives back in Japan. Our father, you see, is the head of the household. He's the one who sent us to here just to go to this academy."

"Did you agree with him?"

"Not at first. I was leaving everyone I knew but I realized that as long as I had my brother with me, I'd be okay. Besides, I met Feliciano and nii-san…and you." I took a risk and looked at Ludwig to see his reaction. Sure enough, he had a pink line going across his face. Quickly, I glanced away. "I should call my aunt to see if she's coming. She forgets sometimes." I stood, pulling my cellphone out of my bag. I started dialing Auntie's cell phone number when Ludwig put his hand on mine.

"I'm glad I met you, too," he said.

Suddenly, I was staring into his eyes. They were getting larger and I realized that he was leaning toward me. I glanced down and saw his lips. I closed my eyes, feeling a blush burning my face.

Thankfully, a horn honked at us. We looked up and saw Gilbert in the driver's seat of a car with a smug look on his face. Ludwig pulled away and cursed in German.

"I have to go," he muttered and headed to his brother.

Once Ludwig got into the passenger seat of Gilbert's car, Gilbert waved at me and they drove off. I managed a small waved before they left and sat back down. Then, I shook my head and looked up again to see Auntie pulling into the school and ran to her.

"Why do you seem so flustered, Hikaru-san?" Auntie asked me as I closed the passenger door.

"It's nothing," I told her as she drove off. _It's someone_, I thought.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

First of all, I'd like to thank my readers because without you guys I probably would have given up in the first few chapter and gone back to 9gag or tumblr. Keep commenting please! You guys make my day better! Like...so much better! You can't even tell! Second of all, I really do think that Roderich/Austria and Elizabeta/Hungary are a cute couple. They're adorable, really *laughs* Enjoy!


	9. Chapter Nine

Ryuto

Hikaru and I sat in the mall's food court, waiting for the others to arrive. In front of Hikaru was a bowl of gelato ice-cream and a bag shaped like a cat. She was leaning over her gelato eating it a tiny spoonful at a time. My twin looked flustered and has been looking that way ever since we were picked up by Auntie.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked Hikaru, even though I've asked her before.

"Yes," she answered. She stared at her spoonful of ice-cream.

"Is it good?" I bought her the ice-cream since wasn't looking well.

"Yes. Do you want to try?" Hikaru held the spoon to me but I shook my head so she ate it. "It's good," she murmured, stirring the ice-cream.

"Can I have some?" asked a happy voice.

The two of us looked up to see Feliciano and the others standing around us. Before Hikaru could answer, Feliciano took the spoon, dipped it into the ice-cream, and smiled as he ate it. "Ve, it's delicious!" he cried.

"You can't just take someone's ice-cream!" Lovino shouted angrily.

"Then you try!" Feliciano stuffed Lovino's mouth with the gelato.

Soon enough, the elder Vargas was yelling at his younger brother and Feliciano cried out, clinging onto Hikaru. My twin let out a laugh and patted Feliciano's head.

"C'mon," she said, dumping the left over gelato into a trash can. "I want to check this mall out." Hikaru pulled on her cat bag over her back and grinned at me.

"All right!" Alfred shouted, walking ahead. "As the hero, I'll lead the way!"

"You stupid!" Yao said. "Shut up!"

"The awesome me should lead the way!" Gilbert shouted.

"No!" Alfred shouted back.

"Shut up, idiot!" Arthur yelled. "No one's leading the way!"

"Fine then!" Alfred and Gilbert yelled at the same time.

I laughed at their stupidity as the others started yelling at each other. I turned to look at Hikaru but she wasn't there.

"Hikaru!" I called out. "Guys, where's Hikaru!"

The others stopped yelling and glanced at me.

"No way!" Alfred shouted. "Hikaru's missing! Oh, god! This is so exciting! The case of our missing friend! I'll find her since I'm the hero!"

"Shut up, Alfred!" I shouted at the American. "My sister's missing!"

"Ve, Ludwig's missing, too!" Feliciano cried.

"That potato bastard kidnapped her!" Lovino shouted.

"Wait, we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Kiku said, trying to calm everyone down.

"Honhonhonhonhon…it seems our German friend has found a love interest in your sister, Ryuto," said Francis.

"What do you mean by that!" I demanded.

"It is hard to resist her, da," Ivan said. "She's sweet and cute unlike my sister."

"I found them!" Antonio cried. He pointed inside a bookstore where Hikaru and Ludwig were laughing over something inside the store.

"He looks happy," Yao commented.

"So does Hikaru," said Feliciano.

"Those two are going to end up together," Francis said.

"Not right away though," I said. "My sister's a ditz when it comes to love, and if she does know that someone likes, her, she'll enter an awkward phase."

"My brother's a little like that, too," said Gilbert. "Though he doesn't know how to act around girls. But the thing is I don't know why he looks so…at ease when he's around Hikaru."

I stared at my sister and Ludwig through the glass window. She had found someone she liked and someone who liked her back. I was starting to feel jealous when I remembered a promise I made with Hikaru a long time ago.

"I'll be right back," I told Gilbert as I spotted a certain blonde girl and her brother.

"Huh? Where're you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to talk to someone."

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I feel sorry for Ryuto. Here's Hikaru and Ludwig/Germany and they're all (a little) lovey dovey and such but he's like so alone. That's why I made him pair up with Lily/Liechtenstein. I think they'd be adorable together, you know. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter Ten

Hikaru

During the ruckus, I slipped away and headed to a bookstore I was looking forward to since Auntie dropped Ryuto and me off at the mall. When I entered, I headed immediately for the manga section, giving into the otaku part of me.

I plopped myself down on the floor in front of a bookshelf and picked out a random book. When I decided I like the book, I grabbed the next three volumes of the series. I stood, looking up at more choices and saw the book I've been looking for since I left Japan. I reached up to get it but I was too short to reach it. I cursed and tried once again but this time another hand beat me to it.

"Here," Ludwig said, peering down at me. He handed me the book.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile as I took the book.

"You like books?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah, I read mostly manga though," I said. I held up the titles for him to see the four volumes of 'Gantz' and the single manga of 'Socrates in Love.' "What about you?"

"I like to read, too. Just any kind of novel though."

"Um… Have you read 'The Book Thief'?" The question came out suddenly as I tried to think of a conversation.

"No, I haven't. Is it good?"

"Yes. I love it. It's sweet but sad."

"What is it called again?"

"'The Book Thief by Markus Zusak."

Ludwig started looking around the store. I followed him closely to help him find the book. He found it and held it out for me to see. "Is this it?" he asked.

I took the book and opened it up and gave it back. "Yes," I told him, smiling. "A minor character in the book has your name." For some reason, I felt myself blush wildly. _Why did I just say that!_ I thought. But instead of looking away, I glanced up at him to see him staring at me.

"Oh, really?" he asked.

"Really," I said. "Though the main character beats him up because he made fun of her."

"Are you saying that I'm weak?"

I blushed. "No, I was just saying that that character was beaten by the main character and…" I caught sight of his smile and turned away with my face burning to see the others standing around me. My blush deepened as I clutched my books. "I'll pay for me stuff," I muttered, seeing Gilbert's stupid grin.

After I paid for my books with Ludwig following suit, we left the bookstore.

"Nii-san, where's Ryuto?" I asked Kiku.

"He went to go talk to someone, Hikaru-chan," Kiku said. "He said he'll be right back."

"Ah, never mind, I said as I saw Ryuto walking to me with his hands in his pockets. There was a slight tinge on his face and I grinned at him. "You talked to her?" I whispered as we joined the group again.

"I did," he told me.

I smiled. "I'm glad you did."

"Hikaru! Ryuto!" Feliciano called back. "Come on, we're going to play a game of laser tag!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a large dark room with colorful lights swirling around.

"Laser tag?" Ryuto asked as we paid to get inside.

"That's right!" Alfred shouted. "It's everyone against everyone and whoever wins has to host movie night next week at their place!"

"I don't think that's right," Yao said.

"He probably just made it up, that idiot," Arthur muttered.

"Whatever!" Gilbert said. "Everyone grab your equipment and head inside!"

We strapped on our padding and grabbed a gun while the attendant explained the rules. Then, we went into the arena where we spread out. The game started at once and immediately, Gilbert shot me in the chest.

I glanced at Ryuto who was beginning to shoot at the others and grinned. "This means war!" I shouted, running straight into the chaos as I laughed, feeling happier than I've ever been in my life.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I've always wanted to try laser tag. I've tried paintball and it hurts... It hurts soo much (xLx)ヾ But on the other hand, I really wanted Hikaru and Ludwig to kiss but I guess it's just too early *laughs* And when Arthur/England says that Alfred/America made that rule up on the spot, it's true. Well, I actually made that up on the spot. It seemed like it would be something he'd do. Anyway, apart from my story, "The Book Thief" is a real book along with "Gantz" and "Socrates in Love." If you ever get the chance, check the books out. I've read "The Book Thief" a million times before and I love it soo much but I end up crying each time since it's so sad. I'm currently reading "Gantz" and I've watched the movie before so I thought I'd give it a try. It's good. "Socrates in Love" is sad, too, along with "The Book Thief". But you just have to read them to find out why. I'll never tell! *laughs* Sorry about that rant. I've been meaning to talk a little more and break the fourth wall in the last few chapters but I've never really had the time to... ANYWAY, I'll keep writing φ(^∇^ ) Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter Eleven

Ryuto

The doorbell rang downstairs and I stumbled to get out of my desk chair to go answer it. As I ran down the stairs, Auntie beat me to the door.

"Welcome, boys!" Auntie said cheerfully, letting my friends into the house. "Ryuto's right here. Make yourselves right at home!"

"Hey, Ryuto!" Alfred shouted once everyone came in. "Your home is awesome!"

"That's my line," Gilbert growled. "But it isn't as awesome as me though!"

I grinned at my friends. "Come on," I said, jumping down the last step. "Let's get movie night started."

"All right!" Feliciano cried happily.

"You can put your bags in my room upstairs," I told them, leading them up. They followed me into my room and put their stuff down. "So what movies are we watching tonight?"

"Horror!" Alfred said immediately.

"Comedy," Antonio said.

"Awesome action!" Gilbert shouted.

"Anime," Kiku added.

"Romance," Francis said with a chuckle.  
>"Only a frog would want to watch girly stuff," Arthur muttered.<p>

"And what did you bring, huh?" Lovino demanded.

Arthur held out a James Bond movie and everyone groaned.

"We are not watching that!" Yao shouted.

"Guys, I don't think we even have time watch every movie tonight," I said.

"Ryuto's right," Ludwig agreed. "We need to vote on the movie's we're going to watch. Everyone put their movie on—"

"Wait!" Feliciano shouted. "Hikaru's not here yet!"

"Where is Hikaru-san?" Kiku asked me.

Ivan poked his head outside my door and said, "I hear music playing down the hall."

"Then she's in the practice room," I said. "The first door on the left."

I led them out into the hallway and all of us peered into the cracked door and saw saw Hikaru's back facing toward us. She was singing softly in Japanese as she played the piano. After a minute or so, she hit the last note and everyone clapped for her. She looked back and her eyes widen in surprise.

"That was amazing, ve!" Feliciano cried, hugging her from behind.

"Uh…thank you?" Hikaru said when Feliciano let her go. She stood up and straightened her clothes as she blushed lightly. "So have you guys decided what movies we're watching?"

"Feliciano made us wait for you so we could vote on it," Ludwig said.

My twin blushed but she smiled shakily at Feliciano as she patted his head. "Thank you, Feliciano," she said.

It was amazing how much my sister and I adjusted to life with the guys.

"Okay, so now we vote!" I said, clapping my hands together.

Once we got things settled down, Auntie announced dinner and we rushed downstairs to see the kotatsu loaded with different kinds of food.

"Pasta!" Feliciano cried when he saw his favorite food.

"You had time to cook all this?" I asked Auntie.

"Of course not," Auntie said. "All of your parents brought them over earlier today."

"What is this?" Hikaru asked, picking up a biscuit-like food. She took a bite of it as the others yelled, "No!"

Hikaru froze. She held up a hand to her mouth, making gagging noises as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

"Spit it out," Yao yelled, shoving a trash can toward her.

"Someone do the Heimlich Maneuver!" Antonio shouted.

"I'll do it," Ivan said, smiling.

Hikaru shook her head wildly as the big Russian guy lifted up from behind and gave her the Heimlich Maneuver. My sister coughed and broke free from Ivan's grip, looking relieved. "Thanks, Ivan," she gasped, wiping her eyes. "What did I just eat? It tasted so hor—" Hikaru stopped, seeing the look on Arthur's face. "Ah…Arthur, I didn't…Did you…?"

"I made it myself," Arthur said sadly.

"Hahaha!" Alfred laughed. "Don't worry about him. He'll be all right!"

"Can we eat now?" Lovino asked. "I'm hungry."  
>"Me, too," Gilbert said. "All that food is making me hungry."<p>

We sat around the kotatsu, which surprisingly fit all of us, and started digging into the food. When we finished eating, Alfred declared it was movie time so everyone changed into pajamas and ran back downstairs. I put the first movie on—a horror movie called "Resident Evil"—and everyone crowded around the TV as it started.

"I hate this movie," Hikaru muttered from behind her pillow. She was covered under a blanket with Feliciano and the two were holding each other as if their lives depended on it.

"Me, too," Feliciano whimpered.

"You know you don't have to watch it then," I said.

"What? No way," Alfred said, even though he was obviously frightened. "Suck it up and be a man, Hikaru."

"But I'm a girl," Hikaru whispered.

"If you're scared just close your eyes, okay?" Ludwig said to her and she nodded.

"Shh, the movie's starting," Yao said.

"Oh, goody," Ivan said. I guessed nothing else could scare him.

An hour or two later, the movie finished and we turned back on the lights. Hikaru and Feliciano were pale from the movie and shivering with fear. With them, most of the others were scared, too, other than me, Kiku, Ivan, Gilbert, and Ludwig.  
>"Really," Kiku said. "It wasn't that bad."<p>

"Are you serious?" Francis gasped. "It was horrible!"

"Zombies are gross," Antonio said, shuddering.

"It was scary," Lovino muttered, clinging onto his brother.

"Hold me, Ludwig," Feliciano said, reaching out for the German.

"I agree with Kiku," I said. "The graphics sucked."

"It was awesome!" Gilbert shouted, making the Vargas brothers and Hikaru jump as the house phone rang.

"Ah, I'll go get that," Hikaru said, standing up before I could.

"No, there might be zombies over there!" Feliciano cried, tugging her hand.

"Zombies aren't real, Feliciano," Ludwig told him.

"Ludwig's right. I'll be fine, okay?" Hikaru said. "I'm just over in the hallway." She let go of his hand and walked off to answer the ringing phone.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Let's skip this because I wrote a whole run-on paragraph before my computer unexpectedly shut down on me as I was writing. I'm sorry for not updating the story yesterday. I meant to. On the other hand, the Sohma twins won laser tag and therefore, skipping a week ahead from that day at the mall, they had to host movie night because of Hikaru. Hikaru was eating a scone which are actually quite good from Starbucks. And blah blah blah. I hope you enjoy! Also, I realized that I have a lot of typos in my previous chapters and sometime later I will fix them. Enjoy!


	12. Chapter Twelve

Hikaru

I picked up the phone as soon as I got to it. "Hello? Sohma residence, may I ask who is speaking?" I said into the phone, waiting for a response.

"Hikaru?" asked a familiar voice. "Hikaru, is that you?"

"Mama?" I whispered.

"Yes, Hikaru," my mother said, sounding annoyed. "Don't you know your own mother's voice?"

"Yes, Mama." My voice came out small.

My mother sighed. "Hikaru, I heard from Satsuki-san that you have a piano recital next week. Are you finally good enough for that? If so, don't mess up. Your father and I will be flying in to visit you and your brother. I don't want to be embarrassed in front of strangers. And why didn't you tell me before? I had to hear from your caretaker. All you could've done was pick up the phone and tell me. Sometimes I wonder about you. Now give the phone to your brother since you're giving me the silent treatment. Unlike you, he's actually promising."

"Yes, Mama," I whispered. I clutched the phone, trying hard not to cry and walked over to Ryuto and handed it to him. They had paused the movie to wait for my but I didn't feel like watching anymore. Once Ryuto took the phone from me, I climbed upstairs and shut myself in my room.

I leaned against the wall and curled into a fetal position. In my head, my mother's words repeated themselves over and over again until I wanted to cry my eyes out. Her words were the bane of my existence, along with my father's. They decided what I should do, where I go to school, and if they wanted, who I would marry. My life was set just by a decision they made and there was no way anyone, not even me, could change it. My brother's life was like that, too, but it seemed like he was favored more I was.

Someone knock on my door. Standing up, I wiped my eyes to make sure I wasn't crying and said, "You can come in."

Unexpectedly, Ludwig came in. "This is your room?" he said, looking around. "It's very neat and organized."

"Thank you," I sniffed.

"Um, are you coming down to watch with us? Everyone's waiting."

I shook my head. "I don't feel like watching anymore," I said. "Sorry."

Ludwig looked at me, his expression full of concern. "Is something wrong? Ryuto said…"

"It's my mother," I blurted. "She's so...she's…I don't know what to do about it…about her." Before I knew it, I started crying in front of him. "She's …they're so controlling…I can't stand it…I have to…"

Suddenly, he pulled me into him. "It's okay," he said into my hair. "You don't have to stand it. Listen, they're still your parents but you can…you can come to me, okay? When you're feeling frustrated, I'll be there for you."

I looked up at him and he smiled, making me blush. Then he reached for my shelf and pulled a tissue from a tissue box and wiped my face with it.

"Ack, hey!" I said as he wiped my tears. "Come on, you're too rough."

"Sorry," Ludwig apologized, smiling at me as I pushed his hands to his face.

I smiled back at him. Abruptly, he leaned down towards me and we kissed. I let go of his hands and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my face against his chest. For a moment, we stayed like that in peace until Feliciano showed up.

"Do I get a kiss?" he asked us as I pulled away.

I hugged Feliciano and kissed his cheek.

He smiled. "Ve, Hikaru makes me feel so warm," Feliciano said. "She's like my mama. Ah, Ludwig can be like my papa!"

Ludwig and I blushed at the same time.

"Why don't we go downstairs?" Ludwig suggested. "Everyone's probably tired of waiting." He held out his hand to me and I took it. The two of then followed Feliciano downstairs to finish movie night.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

You guys are amazing! *laughs* Truly, you are. You make my day soo much! So anyway, in this chapter, we learn a little more about the Sohma twins. They have controlling parents, they live with their caretaker, and Ryuto seems to be favored more than Hikaru. This tends to happen in Japanese families with the boy being more favored than the girl especially if he's the first born. In the case of the twins, Ryuto was born a few minutes before Hikaru. And about the little romantic scene...I'm sorry. I don't write a lot of romance so I'm just breaking it out *laughs* Please enjoy!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Ryuto

When I woke up the next morning, I saw that everyone was sleeping in weird ways. Yao had taken up one of the sofas with his Shinatty-chan cat pillow thing. Francis was wearing one of those things that covered up his eyes for 'beauty sleep' while his arms were reaching out to Arthur, who was sprawled on the ground. Alfred was still snoring on a sofa and half of his body was falling off. Ivan took up most of the floor, hugging Lovino who was stiff with fear. Gilbert was on the third sofa, muttering something in his sleep about how awesome he was. Antonio was drooling all over his pillows which I found very disgusting.

Lastly, Feliciano was resting on Hikaru's stomach while she was sleeping on Ludwig's chest, whose arms held her protectively as they slept. As I looked at my sister and the younger Beilschmidt brother, I wondered what happened between them. But on the other hand, Kiku and I were the only ones who actually slept normally.

I rubbed my eyes and stood up. "I'm so hungry," I muttered to myself as I took a step over Feliciano, trying to be careful. Unfortunately, I tripped over Feliciano's legs and yelped as I fell.

"What's going on!" Hikaru screamed as she jumped up from the floor, waking up everyone else.

"Nothing," I said as she pulled me up. "I just tripped."

"Are you okay?" Feliciano asked me.

"I'm fine," I told him.

"Is everyone awake?" Auntie called as she walked down the stairs. "Are you all hungry?"

"I am," I called and the others chimed in, too.

"All right, I'll make you some waffles for breakfast," Auntie said, heading into the kitchen.  
>"My back hurts," Hikaru said, stretching her body. "What was I sleeping on?"<p>

"The floor?" Arthur guessed.

"No, I don't—" Her eyes widened as she covered her face with her pillow. "Maybe it was the floor. Um, I'll go use the bathroom." She grabbed her blanket and ran up the stairs in a flash, leaving Ludwig with a red face.

"What's her problem?" Yao asked.

"I don't know," Ludwig said quickly.

"Oh, god," Antonio said, holding his pillow up. "Was I drooling?"

"Yes," Lovino answered. "It was disgusting."

"Ack, look at this mess!" Alfred said, seeing spilled popcorn around his area. "Who in the world would make such a mess in Ryuto's house!"

"Um, you would," Kiku and I said at the same time, remembering last night when he shouted at a movie, causing popcorn to fly everywhere.

Alfred grinned. "Right."

"Ryuto, someone's on the phone," Auntie said, holding out the phone to me. "She wants to speak with you."  
>"She?" I asked, taking the phone. Into the receiver, I said, "Hello?"<p>

"Um, Ryuto?" asked a sweet voice. "This is…this is Lily."

"Oh, hey, Lily," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Um, I was wondering if you'd like to come on a picnic with my big brother…and me…today."

I felt myself blush. "A picnic? That'd be great! What time do you want to meet up?"

"Is twelve okay? Um, my big brother says we're meeting at the park."

I smiled. "That's perfect," I said. "I'll see you then." I hung up the phone and sighed. I had a date with Lily Zwingli…and Basch, her big brother. But I still had a picnic date with her, even though she was the one who asked me.

"Honhonhonhon! Ryuto has a date!" Francis said, grinning at me.

I chucked a pillow at Francis and smacked his face with it.

"Really? With who!" Gilbert asked, giving me a noogie.

"Lily," I said, "And her brother, Basch."

"When did this happen?" Hikaru asked.

I looked up to see my twin, already dressed, at the bottom of the staircase. "Just a minute ago," I told her.

She smiled at me. "That's good," she said. "I'm going to go help Auntie with breakfast. You guys clean up, okay?" Then she left for the kitchen as we folded up the blankets and straightened up the living room.

When breakfast was finished, we sat around the kotatsu and ate. Then when we were done, everyone started dressing into their day clothes as Auntie cleaned up.

"Ah, Ryuto! You should get her flowers!" Antonio said to me suddenly as we sat down in the living room.

"Get who flowers?" Auntie asked, coming from the kitchen.

"His date," Hikaru answered with a laugh and Auntie squealed in delight.

She gave me a giant hug and said, "Ryuto has a date! When is it? Oh, you need to get her flowers! You're so grown up!"

"Will you please stop acting like I've been on a date?" I asked, feeling flustered.

"Honestly, you never have gone a date," Hikaru said.

"Well you haven't either," I retorted and my twin blushed.

"What!" Francis shouted. "You two haven't gone on dates! How horrifying! With your looks, the two of you could have anyone you want!"

"I want to kill him," Hikaru muttered in Japanese.

"Besides," I said. "It's just a picnic and Basch will be there. It's more like a super-vised thing rather than a date."

"You're still getting her flowers," Auntie told me. "But what kind?"

"Roses are perfect!" Francis said with a chuckle.

"Too cliché," Arthur said. "How about violets?"

"No, too purple," Yao said. "What about poppies?"

A thought came over me. "Lilies," I said. "I'd like to get her lilies." I smiled, thinking that I had a date with sweet Lily later on that day.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

And so here we are, the end of movie night. La di da. Ryuto has a date *laughs* with Lily...and Basch... *laughs* Sorry. I felt that since I'm pairing up Hikaru with Ludwig, I should pair up Ryuto with sweet Lily. I think they'd be cute together, you know. Oh, yeah. That reminds me. In chapter nine when Ryuto goes to talk to Basch and Lily, he somehow won Basch's 'okay' so now he doesn't feel...ah...intimidated by Big Brother Basch. *laughs* Enjoy!


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Hikaru

Everyone left later on, including Ryuto for his date which left me all alone in the house until Auntie came back. I let the dogs back inside since they were outside for movie night last night…

"Did he really kiss me?" I asked Hana-chan as I was sitting under the kotatsu, rubbing her head. I wasn't really sure if he did or if I was just dreaming about it. I mean I remembered the feel of his lips on mine and god, he was so gentle about it. I wanted to kiss him again but then Feliciano came in. And then after that, the three of us went back downstairs to finish movie night. Sometime afterwards, I ended up dozing off on Ludwig's chest, which was kind of awkward when I woke up but thankfully none of the guys saw me…or did they?

"I don't think I even care about the other guys," I told Hana-chan. "Ludwig's so sweet…and handsome…" I rested my head against the kotatsu's surface. "Hana-chan, I have it bad."

I stood up and walked into the front hallway and peeked outside out of curiosity to see if Auntie was back yet. Instead, I saw Ludwig across the street walking three dogs. I smiled and was about to put on shoes to go meet with him when another girl approached him first.

The girl had brown hair tied into pigtails and she wore a blue dress. She looked familiar and I recognized her from my cooking class, even though I didn't remember her name.

I stayed put, watching as the girl and Ludwig started talking. The girl, I noticed, was smiling at him like she had known forever. It dawned on me that she probably has and that was when I closed the blinds.

How could I, someone who has only known him for a few weeks, compete with someone who has known him for years or possibly his whole life? I sighed, thinking that it was crazy that I've only been at Gakuen Academy for as long as I've known Ludwig and the others and yet I was jealous of a girl I barely knew.

"This is stupid," I said to myself as I started climbing upstairs to get it out of my head.

Later on, Auntie came back after dropping off Ryuto and going to the grocery store where she picked up a few groceries and a treat of Pocky for me. When I didn't go downstairs, she dropped off my Pocky with me in the piano room. Then an hour later, she left again to pick up Ryuto from his date.

Ryuto, who apparently had the best time ever with Lily, ranted about it to me as I tried practicing piano. When he left, I stopped playing, tossed my uneaten Pocky in my room, put a leash on Hana-chan, and took her outside for an afternoon stroll. I honestly didn't even know why I was going for a walk.

"Hikaru!"

I turned around to see my brother running with his dog at his side.

"Are you okay?" he asked me once he finally caught up.

"I'm just stressed," I said, shrugging. We started walking down the sidewalk. "Mama and Papa are coming in this week."

"She told me. You know you don't have to stress over it."

"I know. It's just that I can't stop thinking about it. I should be happy or something but…"

"They freak you out?" he asked and I nodded. "They scare me, too. Just follow their rules and don't over it, okay?"

I stopped as I looked ahead to see Ludwig and Feliciano walking towards us. Feliciano waved wildly while Ludwig smiled at me. Ryuto waved back but I didn't. "Well, I am," I told my brother, turning around and heading back home with Hana-chan. "I am stressing about everything."

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Just to let you know...completely random crap going on in here. I think I wasn't feeling well when I wrote this but the story had to go on! On the other hand, enjoy! *laughs*


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Ryuto

"Ryuto, is your sister okay?"

I looked up to see Ludwig standing next my locker. The school day had ended and everyone was heading home, rushing through the halls to get to their rides or slowly heading to the student parking lot.

"Is something wrong with her?"

"I'm asking you," the blonde German said. "She wouldn't look at me the whole day so I was wondering…"

I closed my locker door. "She's stressed, that's it," I said. "Our parents are coming in today so she's kind of freaking out…and she keeps on talking about you…and another girl?" I glanced at Ludwig to catch his face turning red. "Do you know what she's talking about?"

"Where is she?"

Was it just me or did he sound worried?

"In the music room, telling her teacher she can't—hey, where are you going?" I called after Ludwig as he ran in the opposite direction.

"I'm going to find her!" he shouted back.

Sighing, I picked up my bag and headed to the front of the school. When I got there, I saw Auntie standing outside her car with a familiar-looking couple. Auntie spotted me and waved me over. As I walked towards the couple, I stared at them, thinking how much they looked like my sister and me.

The man had Hikaru's and my dark hair, except that it was gelled back in a slick style. He was fully clothed in a business suit and had glasses that made his dark eyes look kind of, well, business-like. The woman, wearing a black dress and heels to make her taller, had thick make-up painted all over her face. Without the make-up, I knew she'd look exactly like Hikaru, who had her light brown eyes and soft white skin.

"Mother, father,' I said my parents as I bowed respectfully.

"Where's Hikaru?" my father asked.

"She's talking to her teacher."

"Can't you tell her to hurry up?" my mother demanded in an annoyed tone.

My father glanced at my mother and I could tell he wanted to say something. Unlike my mother, my father favored Hikaru so much he spoiled her whenever our mother wasn't around. The same thing happened to me when my father wasn't around, only with my mother. In a way my twin and I got whatever we wanted as long as we were with one parent. With both, it seemed like hell because they'd constantly bicker about us.

"It's okay," Auntie said quickly. "I think I see her coming."  
>I glanced back to watch Hikaru turn the corner with Ludwig. Their fingers were intertwined with each other and the two were talking and smiling until Hikaru saw our parents. She dropped Ludwig's hand immediately and said something to him. He nodded and left as she walked over to us.<p>

"Who was that?" my mother asked Hikaru when she approached us.

"A friend," Hikaru said with her voice barely a whisper. She kept her eyes on our father, who was smiling behind our mother's back at her.

"Shall we head home?" Auntie asked quietly. "I have dinner already prepared if you're hungry."

"Very well," our mother said. "Follow me, Ryuto."

I nodded and followed my mother to the car obediently. Our father and Hikaru slowly walked behind us and I could hear him telling her that he'd take her to the store for a treat while they were here.

"I can't believe your father," my mother growled, applying another layer of lipstick once we got into the car. "Spoiling Hikaru like that…"

"Mother," I muttered as Hikaru and our father slid into the car.

"Take us home, Satsuki-san," our mother said to Auntie, who obeyed and drove us back home for dinner.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Enter Mama and Papa! *laughs* The Sohma twins' parents are a bit complicated but I sort of made them that way because, well, it's a story and stories have to be a bit complex, right? At least my stories are. Anyway, so this is how the Sohma family's relationship goes: Mama likes Ryuto but sort of doesn't like Hikaru. Papa likes Hikaru but sort of doesn't like Ryuto. It's kind of a weird situation but yeah… The two like to fight over the twins, saying which one should be the heir of the family since they're twins and both have a chance at being the heir of the Sohma family. Families are sometimes like that. Ryuto and Hikaru both don't like the idea, either. They made a promise during their childhood that they both have to be equal no matter what…and I think I mentioned that promise during chapter nine. I just forgot to include it…sorry… Please enjoy!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Hikaru

Dinner the night my parents came was as awkward as ever. We didn't talk at all unless my mother was giving some kind of order. As Ryuto would say later on when we went to bed, it was hell. During the dinner, I realized that I'd have to deal with it for the next few days until they left.

And the next few days were as awkward and nerve-wrecking as ever. At school, I found myself tapping out the notes for my piano recital on every surface I came across and when Ludwig noticed my fingers, he'd take my hand and hold it in his where I would squeeze his fingers until they turned purple. Then when the others noticed us holding hands, they'd start making fun of us and telling us how they knew we'd end up dating. Finally, one of us would end up throwing something at Francis's or Gilbert's head since they were the ones who'd start it each time.

But Ludwig was really helpful to me. The day when my parents came to our school, he found me before I left the school and started blabbering about how I would never have to worry about competing for his affection because I was the only one he'd… After that, I shut up him with the kiss I've always wanted to give him since the first time he kissed me.

"I like you," I remember whispering to him after I kissed him. "And I always will."

When the night of my recital came, I sat in my room in front of my vanity desk as Auntie fixed my hair. I was a little nervous since my mother was going to be in the audience. But then I remembered that I had my friends there and my father and Ryuto. My mother...

"Why doesn't Mama like me?" I asked Auntie before I could even think about it.

Auntie stopped brushing my hair and looked at me in the mirror. "Your mama?" Auntie said and I nodded. "Your mama…your mama is complicated." Auntie took a deep breath before she started talking again. "When your mama was married to your papa, she had everything she wanted. Money, a handsome husband, and everyone to adore her. Your papa loved her a lot, too, and when he heard she was pregnant with you and your brother, he was ecstatic. But she wasn't. She wanted to have an abortion but your papa made her keep you two. She fought over it but in the end she had no choice but to agree with your papa.

"And when you two were finally born, your papa instantly loved you because he said you looked exactly like your mama. Your brother, on the other hand, looked like your papa so it was hard to believe you were twins."  
>"But why doesn't Mama like me?" I asked again.<p>

"I'm telling you. Your mama wasn't happy when you were born. I remember her telling me that a man could only love one woman and that was enough. In a way, she was jealous that you had your papa's attention so she turned all hers to your brother."

I opened my mouth to say something but someone knocked on my door and my father entered. My father was holding up a white and black dress covered in a plastic with a matching white flower dangling on the side. The dress was cute and I knew why my mother was jealous. I was my father's favorite, not her anymore.

"Hikaru, I bought this for you while we were still in Japan," he said, handing it to me. "I thought you might like it."

I felt the soft material in my fingers and smiled at my father. "Thank you, Papa," I said, hugging him.

Auntie took it and brought it out of its plastic. "Come on, Hikaru," she said, pulling me into my private bathroom. "Let's see how it looks on you."

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

So here we are at chapter sixteen! ...Have I really written that much? My original document says 26 pages and 12, 221 words at the end of this chapter…not that I'm bragging or anything *laughs* So in this chapter, we finally know why Mama doesn't like Hikaru. She's not Papa's favorite anymore and once Mama figured that out, Mama decided to turn all her attention on Ryuto. Nice mother, eh? But Hikaru has her papa to spoil her and buy her everything she needs and wants and whatever he thinks she'd like. Honestly, I didn't even know what I was writing in this chapter. I usually plan ahead and boom! I have a chapter but last night…or was it this morning?...I was writing and writing and writing and it popped out of the snow like daisies *laughs* Oh, and yes. Hikaru and Ludwig/Germany are finally dating. It feels so sudden, I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to go into it more but I felt like I needed to get this conflict out of the way. By the way, the girl Hikaru was jealous of was Seychelles but I couldn't find her human name…does she even have a human name? I was going to include that but I like it like this. I don't need to make myself crazy going over that conflict… Also, Ryuto and Lily/Liechtenstein are sort of dating but really not because of Basch/Switzerland *laughs* I wish Ryuto good luck in that relationship. Enjoy!


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Ryuto

"Ryuto!" Alfred shouted at once.

"Damn," I muttered as I saw Alfred and the others standing outside the school auditorium. I looked back to see my parents following behind me and hoped they didn't know I was friends with him.

"Hey, Ryuto! Over here!" Alfred shouted again.

"Are those your friends, Ryuto?" my father asked, looking over to them.

"Yes, Father," I said hesitantly.

"Why don't you introduce us?" my mother suggested.

I held back a sigh and nodded. All of my friends were holding a single flower but Ludwig had a bouquet of white roses which probably was Gilbert's or Francis's idea forced onto him and when I got to them, Kiku handed me mine to give to my sister. Once I introduced everyone to my parents, my father instantly recognized Ludwig from the day they came.

"You're the young man who my daughter was with earlier this week," my father said to the tall blonde, holding out his hand. "I am her father."

Ludwig nodded and shook my father's hand. "My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt," he said, "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Sohma."

"Where is Hikaru, ve?" Feliciano asked.

"She came earlier. She's waiting inside backstage," I told him. "Should we go inside?"

Feliciano nodded and pushed the others inside while I followed in with my parents.

"You and Hikaru have a lot of friends," my father said to me. On the other side of him, I saw my mother sniff like she didn't like it so I just nodded and led them to a row where my friends were.

When the recital finally started, we waited and watched as other students played instruments like the violin, cello, and flute. After listening to several students, Hikaru finally came out as the conductor announced her.

My twin blushed under the spotlight as she walked towards the piano. She sat down, adjusted her outfit, and waited for her cue from the conductor. When she started playing, there was a sigh from Feliciano and I could see Ludwig turning red under the dim light. There was no doubt she meant it for him.

Finally, she ended her song and stood up to bow. Out of the applause from the audience, I think my friends were the loudest since most of them were standing up and yelling her name. The curtains closed and then the conductor announced refreshments afterwards in the cafeteria.

"Papa!"

My sister ran towards us as we waited outside for her. When she reached us, she hugged our father and me tightly. "Did you like it?" she asked us, smiling.

"I loved it, Hikaru," our father said.

"It wasn't bad," our mother said. It was the first words she spoke to Hikaru since she left the house earlier. "I'm just glad you didn't embarrass me." She turned to my father. "Let's get a drink. I'm thirsty." Then, she took my father's arm and led him to the cafeteria after I pointed it out.

Hikaru's smile disappeared but it was instantly replaced when everyone showed her the single flowers.

"Hikaru," I said to my twin, handing my flower to her. "These are from us. It's for your recital."

"It represents a single flower blooming in the filth of men, honhonhon," Francis said.

I glared at the French. "No it doesn't. It's just for your recital. It was beautiful, really."

Then, Ludwig handed her the bouquet. "Here," he said, holding it out to her. "I…thought you might like these."

My twin took it and blushed. "Thank you," she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Oh, please," Gilbert said. "If you two are going to make out, please do it somewhere where no one can see you."

Everyone laughed as the younger Beilschmidt punched the elder brother in the stomach.

"You guys are great," my twin said to us as she held Ludwig's hand.

"Yes, I am," I said, smiling at her.

"Not me," Gilbert gasped. "I'm awesome."

"Wait, but I'm the hero!" Alfred shouted. "You can't be as great as I am."

"Oh, shut up, you git," Arthur growled.

"You may be great," Francis said, "But I'm sexy."

"Suck ball, Francis," Yao muttered.

"That's not nice, ve!" Feliciano cried.

"No one wants to hear your opinion, moron," Lovino said.

"Be nice to your brother, Lovino," Hikaru chided.

"Who are you to tell him what to do, huh?" Antonio demanded.

"Why don't you just become one with Mother Russia, da?" Ivan suggested.

"Why can't you all just be quiet?" Ludwig muttered.

"Um, the night is beautiful," Kiku commented quietly.

"It is," I agreed. "It really is."

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Seven words: I'm sorry for the crap I wrote. That's it. When I was writing this, I barely had any ideas but they're probably for upcoming chapters. Suggestions are welcome at this point…yeah. I'm sorry for the crap I wrote. Enjoy…if you can get through this crappy chapter. Oh, Ryuto. I'm sorry I have to write you crappy chapters. Haven't you as the reader realized that I've been writing crappy chapters for Ryuto? I feel that I've been writing crappy chapters for him. I should have a doctor's note for it…even though it's not a disorder…but I'm trying as hard as I can! *laughs* So suggestions are welcome if you want to see something happen between characters or a major event. Just send me a message and I'll try to fit it into the story. Meanwhile, I'll probably write a little more or actually finish that English project that's been haunting me. Enjoy!


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Hikaru

My parents left the very next day which was very sudden since I thought they'd hang out a while longer but I was relieved. I didn't have to be watched by my mother or spoiled rotten by my father. Ryuto was relieved, too, but his reasons were different from mine. However, I had an entirely different thing to worry about now…

I ran the doorbell nervously as I clutched a bag full of white modeling clay. I could feel my fingers slipping and even though the day was cool, my skin was heating fast. Other the other side of the door, I heard someone walking towards the door and a male voice shouting, "I got it!" The door opened and Gilbert stood before me with a huge grin on his face, but he frowned once he saw me.

"Oh," I thought you were someone else," he said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

He grinned. "Nothing. Come on in. Ludwig's upstairs. You can wait for him up there."

I nodded and took off my shoes as I stepped inside the Beilschmidt house. That's right. I was at Ludwig's house… I was going to meet his parents…and work on our history project that was due in two weeks. And I was going to meet his parents!

_Ugh, why am I so nervous?_ I thought. I mean, he already met mine and my father seemed to like him. So what would I be nervous of?

"Who's that, Gilbert?" asked a voice. A woman appeared around the corner wearing an apron with a man following her. I easily recognized a few of Ludwig's traits on the couple: he had his mother's blonde hair and blue eyes and his father's rough features and giant frame.

"This is Hikaru, Mutti. She's Ludwig's girlfriend," Gilbert said, smirking.

"Oh, yes," his mother said, smiling. "Ludwig's talked about you for a while, or rather Gilbert's been talking about Ludwig and you. I'm their mother and this is their father."

I bowed my head. "It's a pleasure to meet you," I said.

"You can go upstairs to find Ludwig. He should be in his room," his father said.

I bowed again. "Thank you," I said.

As they left the room, I heard his mother saying, "Honey, isn't she adorable? No wonder he likes her." I blushed and ran up the stairs as Gilbert yelled that Ludwig's room was the last door on the left. When I got to the door, I saw that it was cracked open so I slipped inside. His room, I noticed, was very neat and organized with papers stacked neatly and books organized alphabetically by authors. He had a German flag on one wall and pictures of the guys framed on the others. Oddly, there was a white flag pinned below the German one with the words "I surrender" written on it with his named signed in Feliciano's handwriting. On his desk, I spotted "The Book Thief" and picked it up, setting the bag of supplies down with a thump.

Just as I flipped it open, I heard his voice saying, "I thought I told you to stay out of my room, Gil—"

I spun around and saw him pulling a shirt over his head as he entered his room. He stopped with his shirt dangling around his neck, staring at me. I felt myself blush and I shut my eyes. "I'm so sorry!" I apologized. "I didn't mean to intrude! The door was open and I thought you were in—" Unexpectedly, I felt myself being pulled into his chest as his arms wrapped around me. I sighed, feeling warm inside his arms while smelling the scent of soap on him.

"It's okay," Ludwig said. "I thought you were Gilbert."

I looked up and into his eyes, feeling myself harder. He leaned and kissed me softly on the lips. I hugged him tighter, burying my face into his chest.

"We should get started on our project," he said.

"Okay…" I pulled away and picked up the bag I brought. "I got some modeling claying…will it be enough?"

"Yeah, it should be. Oh, and Feliciano and Kiku can't come over to help us today. Feliciano's with his family and Kiku has a lot of chores to do at home so we'll need to work on this harder to finish it."

I nodded and helped set up a board with a blue print of the Ancient Roman Empire. For our project, Feliciano, Ludwig, Kiku, and I—or just Ludwig and I, at the moment—were building a diorama of the city of Rome itself. It seemed hard at first but once we researched all we needed to know, we were set to go. We could've finished it a week ago but I had my recital and Ludwig didn't want me stressing over it so he picked up my part of the job and did most of both of our parts. I was really grateful to him for that. And Ludwig, the serious and aggressive guy that he is, got half of the city of Rome built in the past week.

"What are you smiling about?" Ludwig asked as we worked.

I looked up to see him watching me with his glasses on and smiled. "Nothing," I said.

He touched my cheek with his fingers and I leaned over to kiss him. When our lips were about to touch, a door downstairs slammed loudly and we heard shouts of "Mutti!" and "Vati!" came from loud voice.

"My brothers," Ludwig murmured as he stood up.

"Brothers?" I whispered. I followed him out of his room and downstairs to see older lookalikes of Ludwig and Gilbert standing around and hugging his parents while chatting loudly.

"Ludwig, there you are!" shouted one of the lookalikes who had short, messy blonde hair. He embraced Ludwig as the other lookalikes surrounded him. Even though Ludwig was six feet exactly, he looked shorter among the others but still gigantic.

"Oh, and who might this be?" another said as he looked at me standing off to the side uncomfortably. He looked more like Gilbert than Ludwig.

"Brothers, this is Hikaru," Ludwig said, taking my hand. "She's my…uh…"

"His girlfriend," Gilbert interjected brashly and Ludwig blushed violently while I squeezed his hand tightly.

"What!" one shouted. "Ludwig has a girlfriend! And she's cute, too!"

Ludwig's brothers gathered around the two of us. I did my best not to hide into Ludwig's side but they were so gigantic I couldn't help it.

"Don't scare her," Ludwig's mother chided. "Hikaru, sweetie, this is Armon, Klaus, Voss, Werner, and Siegfried. They are Ludwig's and Gilbert's older brothers."

I bowed my head. "Nice to meet you," I said.

"Let's sit down," Ludwig's father said. "We can talk while your mother gets drinks."

I followed Ludwig into the living room and sat down next to him, suddenly wishing I had jeans to wear instead of a skirt.

"So do you two go to school together?" asked the one with short messy hair, Armon.

"Yes, Armon," Ludwig said apparently getting annoyed.

"How did you two meet?" asked the one who reminded me of Gilbert, Klaus.

"History," I said.

"Mein gott, you're lucky, Ludwig," said Werner as he pinched my cheeks but Ludwig hit his brother's hand and glared at him.

"I know," said Voss, who had a large scar across his face. "It took me a while to get a girlfriend."

Gilbert laughed. "That's because chicks don't go for scars. They go for the awesome me!"

Werner, who had long blonde hair like his mother whacked Gilbert's head. "Oh, yeah? And how's that Elizabeta girl you've known since you were little? Are you two dating yet?" he asked.

"Of…of course we are!" Gilbert shouted, turning red.

"I thought she was dating Roderich," I said.

"They don't need to know that!" he yelled at me. His face was flushed with embarrassment as his older brothers were snickering.

"Hey, don't yell at Hikaru like that!" Ludwig shouted and all the brothers suddenly started shouting at each other and rough housing.

"Um, Ludwig—" I began, trying to get his attention as he and one of his brothers were wrestling.

"Hikaru, sweetie, can you help me in the kitchen?" Mrs. Beilschmidt called.

I stopped and nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Beilschmidt," I called back, slipping out of the mess.

"There's no need to call me 'Mrs. Beilschmidt,' Hikaru," she told me, smiling as we passed out drinks once the brothers were done rough housing. "You can call me 'mutti" and you can call Ludwig's father 'vati'."

"Mutti?"

"It means 'mother' in German while 'vati' means 'father'," Ludwig said as I handed him a drink. He pulled me into his side and I rested my head on his chest.

"So when are you two gonna get married?" asked Armon, as if it were a casual question.

I stared at him. "I'm only…I can't…"

"Armon," Ludwig growled, growing red.

"As much as I would like to have grandkids," Mrs. Beilschmidt said, "Ludwig and Hikaru are too young for marriage. Why don't you get married, Armon?"

"I'm too busy," Armon said. "Besides, Ludwig and Hikaru have a better chance at that. And if they have kids, they'll be German and Japanese. It'll be adorable!"

As I blushed at the thought of marrying and having kids, Ludwig took my hand and pulled me up.

"We have a project to finish," Ludwig said, glaring at his brothers. "If you'll excuse us, we need to finish working on it."

"Don't do anything improper to her!" Gilbert shouted as Ludwig pulled me upstairs to his room.

"I'm sorry about my brothers. They're always…"

I reached up and put my arms around his neck and kissed him. "It's okay," I said, smiling. "Your family is really nice."

Ludwig kissed me back. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. "We should get started on the project," he said instead and pulled away from me.

I nodded and sat down next to him and started modeling the clay into tiny Roman houses. Two or three hours later, we were done and his mother called us down for dinner. I took a seat next to Ludwig and his mother at the dinner table. As Ludwig's father served everyone at the table, the chatter grew lively with conversations between the Beilschmidt family and me and the occasional dirty joke made by one of the elder brothers. By the time dinner was done, Armon, Klaus, and Werner were drunk from the beer they kept drinking at the table. Unfortunately, I was barfed on by Armon who was absolutely the drunkest of the brothers.

"Oh, sweetie," Mrs. Beilschmidt said, leading me upstairs to the bathroom. "Let's get you washed up." She pushed me into the bathroom and handed me a towel. "I'll find something for you to wear while you shower, okay? When you're done, go into Ludwig's room and I'll have something for you there."

I nodded and closer the door. Once I peeled off the soiled clothes, I took a shower and when I was feeling refreshed, I wrapped the towel around me and ran into Ludwig's room. On the bed, I found a shirt that looked like it belonged to Ludwig and a pair of shorts that seemed like it would fall off me. I quickly put them on right before Ludwig knocked and came inside.

When he looked at me, Ludwig's face turned a vibrant red. He glanced away as he said, "Mutti called your aunt and she said that you can stay here tonight. Mutti doesn't want you to get sick walking home."

"Okay," I said.

"And she's washing your clothes so they'll be clean for tomorrow. You can take my bed tonight. I'll, uh, be sleeping on the floor."

I nodded, holding my borrowed shirt down as I took a seat on the bed. Hesitantly, Ludwig sat down next to me and I leaned against him. He kissed my forehead and I reached up and pulled his lips to mine. Eventually, I had my arms wrapped around his neck and his arms were around my waist, holding me close to him. After a couple minutes of kissing, I pulled away and stared into his blue eyes.

"Thank you," I whispered, "and goodnight."

Ludwig stood up without saying a word and grabbed a spare pillow and a blanket from his closet and set it on the ground. I watched as he spread out the blanket on the floor.

I felt bad for taking his bed so, impulsively, I said, "You can sleep up here with me. I won't take up a lot of space." As soon as I said it, my conscience started scolding me, saying that it was an improper thing to do and my ancestors would be ashamed of me but the surprised look on his face shut it up.

Unexpectedly, Ludwig tossed the blanket and pillow on the bed and climbed on the other side. Then, he kissed me on both cheeks and said, "Goodnight." He then reached over me and turned off the lamp on his nightstand. I covered myself with one of the blankets and for a while, I blushed in the darkness until I fell asleep.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Sorry about the wait. I've been so busy in the past few days that I couldn't write anything but I've somehow found the time to *laughs* So in this chapter, it's a little love scene between Hikaru and Ludwig/Germany as they work on their project. Also, we get to meet Ludwig/Germany's and Gilbert/Prussia's older brothers, too. I did a little research and found out that he had older brothers other than Gilbert/Prussia. Warning, they were not given human names by their creator so I sort of named them after German names I found on the Internet. Armon is Bavaria, Klaus is Brandenburg, Voss is Hesse, Werner is Holstein, and Siegfried is Saxony. We also get to meet Ludwig/Germany's parents who are unnamed in the chapter but remain "Mr. and Mrs. Beilschmidt". I was going to include Germania, who is the Beilschmidt's ancestor but I decided not to. And also, I got the idea for the chapter because I watched Pride and Prejudice and it was the part where Jane Bennet goes to William Bingley's mansion and she gets sick from the rain so she stays there until she gets better. But instead of having Hikaru get sick, she gets puked on by Armon/Bavaria *laughs* And thus she gets to stay with Ludwig/Germany for the night. Oh, how I love writing these scenes... Thank you and enjoy!


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Ryuto

Right after Hikaru left for Ludwig's house, Auntie dropped me off at the park with a bouquet of lilies and a picnic basket full of sandwiches, drinks, and a big blanket. Since Lily invited me the last time for a picnic, I decided it was my turn to invite her on a picnic, which surprisingly I had persuaded Basch to let her go alone so that I could spend some time with her and not have her brother watch over us like a hawk.

Honestly I was so excited for the picnic date—my second picnic date—I had to have everything perfect. Thankfully, the sun was shining warmly and I was just bursting with excitement that I grabbed Lily's hand as soon as I saw her and pulled her to a shaded area where I had everything set up already.

"Hi," I said as I still held her hand.

"H-hi," she said blushing.

As I looked at her, I wanted to kiss her right then and there but I didn't want to break Basch's promise. "Why don't we sit down and eat?" I suggested instead and she nodded.

We sat down and I handed her the bouquet. "It's for you," I said.

She blushed again and said, "Thank you."

I stared at her lips and a sudden desire came up in my heart. I felt my face burn with guilt. _Improper_, I thought to I wanted to kiss her so badly!

"Um, are you all right?" Lily asked.

I glanced at her. "Yes," I said. "Um, would you like a sandwich?" Why did I just say that? _Ugh_, I thought, _Hikaru and Ludwig are probably being so in love right now at his house, blushing and laughing. _I imagined the two holding hands or blushing as they worked on their project. Dammit. Why wasn't I good at this romantic stuff?

"So how are you?" I asked Lily. _Another stupid question, Ryuto_, I scolded myself.

"I'm good," she answered as a light blush came over her cheeks.

_That was so awkward, _I thought. We continued to eat our sandwiches in silence. Then when both finished, I pulled out two bowls that had small, beautifully decorated cakes in them and handed one to her.

"Oh, that looks delicious," Lily said.

"I made it," I said sheepishly. Normally I wouldn't tell anyone about my secret hobby for baking—not even any of the guys—but I felt like I could tell her.

"Did you decorate it, too?"

I blushed and she smiled. When I started to get out spoons for us, Lilly gave a sudden yelp and I glanced up in time to see several large dogs running toward us.

"Lily!" I shouted. I got up quickly and pulled her out of the way as the dogs ran over her spot and trampled all over the blanket. "Are you okay?" I asked her. I looked into her eyes as I held myself above her and felt myself blushing.

"Yes, thank you," Lily breathed.

I got up and helped Lily to her feet.

"I'm sorry!" shouted a voice.

I turned around to see the dog's owner run up to us. The boy had long brown and he looked like he was shaking really hard. "They aren't my dogs! I was just taking them for a walk for my neighbors who're paying me and I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," I said. "Just go get your dogs and don't worry about us. We're fine."

The boy nodded and then he ran off, calling after the dogs. I started cleaning up the mess and tossed everything that was ruined, which included the cakes, into the trash can. When I packed the blanket into the basket, I looked at Lily. "Why don't take a walk then since we're done eating?" I suggested.

Lily smiled and I took her hand in mine. Then, we started walking through the park.

Along our walk, we made small talk which was more than enough for me. I learned how she adored her brother and all her likes—which was mostly about her brother, but I still found it adorable—and in exchange, I told her about myself and my hobbies and answered whatever question she had in mind. When she spotted a crepe stand, I bought us two crepes and we shared them with each other. And then, all while we talked and walked, I felt absolutely in love with the blonde-haired, green-eyed sweet Lily.

When the day was about to end and when we were about to be picked up, I took both of her hands and impulsively kissed her on the cheeks. It wasn't like the kisses I knew my sister and Ludwig shared, but it was enough for me. As I smiled and Lily blushed, I heard an angry voice call out her name, "Lily!"

Basch pulled us apart and stood in front of Lily as he glared at me. If there were rules allowing it, I bet he'd have a gun in his hands pointed at me. "I trusted you to take care of my little sister," Basch said.

"I did!" I protested. "I was taking care of her!"

"Big brother, wait!" Lily began.

"No, Lily," Basch interrupted her. "Ryuto is unfit to take care of you now let's go home."

"Was this because I kissed her?" I demanded but Basch had Lily by the arm and was pulling her to his car. Soon they left the park and I was in a hurry to get home. And when Auntie picked me up and drove me home, the first thing I did when the vehicle pulled into the driveway of the house, I bolted down the street, turned a couple corners, and end up at the Zwingli residence.

I rang the doorbell as I panted from running. Fortunately, Lily opened the door and her eyes widened when she saw me.

"I need to speak to your brother," I gasped.

"D-did you run all the way h-here?" Lily whispered.

"Lily, who's that?" Basch asked, appearing around the corner of the door. When he saw me, he glared at me and tried to close the door. "Go away, Ryuto," he growled.

I pushed the door open. "Come on, Basch," I said. "Let me talk to you as an older brother to an older brother."

"No," Basch said and he pushed harder to close the door.

"I know how it feels like to want to protect your younger sister," I said, trying to appease to him as I resisted getting shut out. "Look at Hikaru and Ludwig. I didn't want them to date in the first place but once I saw how much Ludwig cared for my sister and how much Hikaru liked Ludwig, I decided to give them a chance. And I promised myself that if Ludwig somehow hurt Hikaru, I'd step in. Just please do the same to me Basch. I wouldn't hurt Lily. I wouldn't even make her cry. I like Lily too much to do that to her. Please, Basch."

In our struggle with the door, Basch let go and he blinked at me. Then he glanced at his blushing sister and back at me. "I'll give you a chance," he said stiffly. "But if you do anything…" He didn't finish his sentence. He just closed the door on me.

I stared at the door for a while as I took everything in. then, I turned around and sighed. Basch had agreed to let me go out with Lily and I felt like I was the happiest guy on Earth just because I got to hold Lily's hand and hug her and buy her presents whenever I felt like it. And, oh, I was going out with sweet Lily Zwingli.

I sighed again and probably would have stayed like the forever if it wasn't for Basch who yelled, "If you keep standing there for a minute longer, I will personally shoot you with my gun."

"Whatever,' I said, laughing as I walked out to the sidewalk. I raised my arms in the air and laughed joyously as I headed home. It was such a wonderful, happy night for me.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

So I know I did a really long chapter for Hikaru and I promised myself and a friend that I'd write a long chapter for Ryuto but somehow I couldn't bring myself to do that. My hand was aching so much it wasn't funny *laughs* Besides, I'm busy with projects piled on by my teachers currently and I'm trying to keep up with my schedule *laughs* Anyway, so in this chapter, Ryuto finally gets to go on a date with Lily/Liechtenstein…a date without Basch/Switzerland, that is. I was so excited when I was writing this but then I had a small case of writer's block so I couldn't finish it sooner. And then by the time I actually got to writing it, I had completely forgotten my ideas but thankfully my friend was there to save me *laughs* Thank you, Zero-chan. You see, instead of having Basch/Switzerland step in, I was going to have Natalia/Belarus step in but I just went with Basch/Switzerland. Now that I think of it, it would have been hilarious if Natalia/Belarus interrupted the two *laughs* Or not… Oh, by the way, the boy that's chasing the dogs was Lithuania. I didn't want some random person come up to them so I made a cameo for Lithuania. I wonder if it's just me or does Lithuania remind you of Ritsu from Fruits Basket? They're always so…so…trembling? *laughs* Thank you and enjoy!

P.S.

In the next few chapters, I'm going to fast forward everything into the autumn season or maybe in winter because I feel that everything's just going too slow for me. I'm already planning ahead, you see, and I have this ultra-special thing I want to occur in the upcoming chapters of Gakuen Academy! *laughs*

P.S.S.

I feel really proud of this chapter. I don't know why. I just do. I can finally say (even after asking several of my friends) that I did NOT write a crappy chapter for Ryuto!

P.S.S.S.

Okay, now I can say 'thank you' because I'm just blabbering… So thank you and enjoy!


	20. Chapter Twenty

Hikaru

The season got colder a couple months late and pretty soon, we were close to winter vacation. And along with winter came snow which also came with hot chocolate, sleigh rides, warm moments by the fire with Ludwig, and unfortunately, snowball fights.

"Incoming!" Alfred shouted.

I ducked behind a wall in the school's courtyard and laughed as the American's snowball hit the wall. I poked my head out from behind the wall and shouted, "Ha! You missed, you stupid Amer—" Suddenly, a snowball hit me in the face. It stung like crazy and the others started laughing as I wiped my face.

"Are you okay?" Ludwig asked me.

"Yeah," I said. I scooped up a handful of snow and molded it into a ball. "I just got to get Alfred…"

Ludwig smiled at me. "I'll help you," he said, showing me the snowball in his hands. Then the both of us threw our snowballs at Alfred and hit him in the face.

"What!" Gilbert shouted from behind his make shift fortress made of snow. "You two are teaming up! No fair! I want to have a teammate!"

"We're not teaming up, Gilbert," Ludwig told him.

"Why not, Ludwig?" I asked. "It'd be nice." I smiled at him and he blushed.

"Fine then," Ludwig said. "Just don't get hurt."

I smiled again and everyone broke into pairs. Then, we resumed the fight but it was soon ended by a teacher who got mad and told us to stop. Everyone was soaked to the bone from the melted snow and red in their faces. I was freezing even though I wore a thick jacket but the skirt and the knee-length socks that was part of my school uniform wasn't enough for my legs.

"I love snow," Ivan said, smiling.

"Are you kidding me?" Alfred said. "Whose stupid idea was it to start this snowball fight?"

"Yours," Arthur and Yao said in unison.

"I'm gonna go clean up," I said to Ludwig, smiling.

"I'll come with you," Ludwig told me, grabbing my bare hands in his giant gloved ones. "Your hands are cold." He kissed my fingers and I pulled away, smiling, and slipped them into the pockets of his jacket. He slung an arm around me and I hugged his waist as we walked to the nearest restroom.

When we go to the restrooms, I went inside the girl's and smiled at myself in the mirror. Today felt perfect even though it had barely begun and I wasn't going to let anything get in my way. Then, I cleaned myself up and when I was done, I exited the restroom to see that Ludwig wasn't waiting for me like he said so I waited for a minute or two outside the boy's restroom for him to come out.

But he never came so I decided to look for him around the area. I started to turn the corner but the sight of Ludwig's back and a pair of arms around his neck stopped me with Natalia's face pressed against his. And there was no doubt that it wasn't her. Her large bow and pale blonde hair, almost like Ivan's, gave her away.

I pulled myself away from the corner and took everything in. I clutched my chest as if I could feel my heart breaking. Then, after staying in the same place for another second, I ran back in the direction I came from.

"Hey, Hikaru," Alfred shouted. "Where's Ludwig?"

I slowed down to see Alfred, Arthur, and Ivan coming around the corner. I couldn't look at them—especially Ivan since he was Natalia's older brother—as I said, "He's back there." I almost started crying when I imagined what she and Ludwig were doing now…

"Are you okay?" Arthur asked me. "Do you need a handkerchief?"

I wiped my eyes. "It's just the snow. It still hurts from earlier," I said.

"If it's about the snowball I threw at you, I'm so—" Alfred began.

"No, it's okay, Alfred," I interrupted him quickly.

"You know, the snow really isn't that bad even if it's cold," Ivan said. "I should know. I grew up with it."

"I think I know what snow is," I said a little too harshly. _Ivan's not Natalia,_ I scolded myself. I bowed my head. "I'm sorry, Ivan," I told him. "I have to get to class. I'll see you guys later." Then, I ran off into the snow covered courtyard.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

And so here we are at chapter twenty. I honestly never thought I'd get this far, you know. It's much easier writing fan-fiction than writing your own story, which I have just realized now *laughs* So in this chapter and as promised in chapter nineteen, it's now wintertime and everyone is almost on break and things are totally screwed up because of Natalia/Belarus. I don't hate Natalia/Belarus but it's just that whenever I see a picture of Belarus and Germany together, I just want to punch whatever is close to me. I'm a fan of Germany and I'm kind of obsessed with the country. I'm weird and I know it but I kind of get jumpy when I see something German-related. Take this one guy at my school for instance. He has the German flag on his backpack and I just want to rip it out and go all Gollum-like… Oh, you know what I just realized? I never really wrote much about what happened in school. I just wrote things that happened outside of school, if you know what I mean. This is like the first time I wrote about the school since, well, the first few chapters. I mean, I know it is called "Gakuen Academy' but sometimes I just want to write about everyone's lives together. Also, I'm currently writing a little story that's based off a dream I had once. If you read it, I'd be so happy and thankful...or you can just...you know...review... Anyways, thanks for reading and enjoy!

P.S.

If you read this already, I apologize because I made a typo. I put "I dicked behind a wall" on accident. I swear! It was an ACCIDENT! *laughs* So thanks to AndieArmstrong, I corrected it...so thank you...and enjoy...


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

Ryuto

"Welcome home, Sohma-san," the driver to us when he pulled the car up to the main entrance of the Sohma estate, a large mini-village that my family owned in Japan.

Next to me, Hikaru muttered "Home sweet home" in a sarcastic tone.

The door on my side was opened by the driver and Hikaru and I slid out of the car. Outside, several of our caretakers—men and women dressed in kimonos—greeted us when we got out.

"You must be very tired from your flight," a woman said to us. "Please go inside. We're preparing dinner for you so it should be ready soon."

"Thank you," I said. "Is Mother and Father home?"

"Your parents are both out of Tokyo at the moment. They decided to spend time together in Osaka at one of their vacation homes."

"Figures," Hikaru sighed. "Well, it's just going to be the two of us and the caretakers, Ryuto."

"What? Did you forget about us already?" asked a girl's voice.

Hikaru and I looked up to see a girl and a boy walking out of the house and heading toward us. The girl had long black hair and dark brown eyes. The boy looked like her except he was much taller and had short hair instead. Hikaru and I just stared at them.

"Oh my god, Ryuto," the girl said. "You forgot about me! But never mind. You're so cute I'll forgive you." The girl then threw her arms around me and I pushed her away awkwardly.

"Sorry, Rin," I said. "I was just surprised."

"Hi, Hikaru," the boy said to my twin, smiling at her.

Hikaru glanced at the boy. "Hello, Hiro," she said, smiling back at him.

"The Ashiyas have been waiting for you two," Auntie said, coming up right behind us. "Now, why don't we go inside so you four can catch up with each other?" Auntie pushed us inside the main house where we were served hot tea and dumplings filled with beef.

"So how's that school you're going to, Ryuto?" Hiro asked me as we sat down on the sofas.

"And are there hot foreign guys going that to school, too?" Rin asked suddenly.

Hikaru looked annoyed when Rin grabbed her by the shoulders. "Is that all you think about?" my sister mumbled.

"I'm a girl so duh. You must be hiding something, Hi-chan," Rin said, winking at Hikaru. "Am I right?"

"The school's okay," I said, answering Hiro's question. "It's just like any other academy though."

"Yeah, like any other academy," Hikaru said, getting up from her seat next to Rin and sitting next to Hiro. "With _normal-looking_ guys."

"Aw, that sucks," Rin said, pouting. "I wish we were going to school together like we used to. But now I'm stuck at the boring all-girls school in the city."

"It must be completely horrifying," Hikaru muttered. My twin was being sarcastic with Rin, although I knew that Hikaru was secretly glad that Rin didn't go to school with us because Rin would flirt with every guy she saw and Gakuen Academy had a _lot_ of guys.

"What about you, Hiro?" I asked Rin's brother. "Aren't you going to the all-boys school across from Rin's?"

"Yeah," said Hiro. "It's nothing special though. You guys are lucky. You get to go to school out of the country with foreigners and meet people from different countries."

"Oh! Have you met a German guy yet?" Rin asked, jumping from her spot to the sofa I was sitting on. Rin pushed her brother away, who sat by Hikaru. "I hear they're so robust and good-looking!"

"Uh, yeah," I said. "We have two German friends, actually. Both are brothers and Hikaru's da—"

"Hiro-san, Rin-san, your mother is here for you," Auntie said, interrupting me. On the other couch, I saw Hikaru sigh with relief and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Aw, darn it," Rin said. "Mother's very early. Well, I guess we'll just have to talk later. Oh my god. We have to go shopping this Saturday, Hikaru. Ryuto, you're coming, too, okay?"

"I guess so," I said, unsure of what she was talking about.

"Bye, Hikaru," Hiro said, giving my sister a hug. He waved at me. "Bye, Ryuto. I'll see you later."

"Bye," Hikaru and I called out at the same time. We watched them leave the estate and closed the door once they drove off.

Hikaru yawned and started heading to her room. "I'm going to take a nap," she said. "Wake me up when dinner's done."

"Okay," I said. I plopped myself on a couch and pulled out my Nintendo DS from my pocket and started playing Mario Kart online. Minutes later, I was so absorbed in my game that I started yelling at the screen whenever an idiotic player did something stupid.

"This is the main house where you'll be sleeping," I heard a caretaker's voice say as the front door opened. "If you need anything, please feel free to ask any of us. We are here to take care of the Sohma twins and their friends."

"Hiro's back already?" I called out without looking up from my screen.

"The Ashiyas left earlier. Were you expecting them again?"

"No?" I said, standing up as I still played on my DS. "Who were you talking to then?" I glanced behind me and saw the guys from Gakuen standing in the front entrance, staring at me. My game slipped from my hands and it fell with a loud sound effect that told me I lost.

"Surprise!" Alfred shouted. "We're here in Japan to visit you!"

"Dammit, Ryuto," Hikaru's voice yawned from behind me. "I'm trying to take a nap in my room and all I'm hearing is you yelling at something and a voice that sounds exactly like Al—" Hikaru stopped talking when she saw our friends. She glanced down at the floor after staring for a while and said as she turned around, "I'm going to sleep. Don't…don't wake me up or anything. Just...please…don't bother me…" Then, she walked back to her room without looking back. Was it just me or did she seem sad?

"Um, surprise?" Feliciano said again.

"Surprise," I repeated when I looked back at my friends. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"It's a surprise, ve!" Feliciano shouted.

"I know that but why…how…"

"Your father invited them. He thought you might like company over the break," said the caretaker.

_So that's why he left,_ I thought. "Is dinner done yet?" I asked. "I'm getting hungry."

"Yes, please come into the dining room."

We sat around the table in the dining room and were severed rice with meat and noodles.

"When did you guys arrive in Japan?" I asked as we started eating.

"Just an hour or two ago," Arthur said. "It's really fascinating here."

"It feels good to be home," Kiku added. "I rarely get to visit so it's wonderful."

"I'm glad you like it here," I said, smiling at my friends. "We have to go sightseeing since you guys are tourists. Hikaru and I can be your guides and we'll take you around the city."

"Ryuto-san, where is your sister?" a caretaker asked me in Japanese.

"Oh, she's in her room," I replied, looking up at the caretaker. "She said not to bother her, though."

The caretaker pursed her lips. "I'll take her dinner to her room if she's not feeling well," she said. Then, she went into the kitchen and came back with a tray that had food on it.

"I can take it to her," Ludwig said suddenly, standing up.

The caretaker smiled at the German. "My, what a thoughtful young man. Hikaru-san's room is the last door of the left hallway," she said and Ludwig left with the food.

Everyone stared after Ludwig as he left.

"That was weird," Antonio said.

"Did anything happen between the two lovebirds?" Francis asked. "_Le amour _is not strong around them. We need to push Hikaru and Ludwig closer together!"

"Who died and made you Cupid?" I muttered.

Francis gasped. "I would rather not be a fat little cherub while I can be a sexy Frenchman, for your information."

"I think you'd be a better frog," Arthur said and the two started arguing while the others started talking loudly.

Meanwhile, I sat in my seat and wondered what really happened between my sister and Ludwig.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I'm so sorry for not updating in a while! I've been trying to update but I kept forgetting to and whenever I'd go onto the website, I'd feel so guilty. But the good thing is that I've been writing a little more *laughs* I've actually had this chapter written for a few days, maybe more, but I kept forgetting to and I was also writing these little side-stories for Gakuen Academy. I don't know if I'll publish it soon but be on the lookout, okay! One story is called "Iggy in Love" and the other story is called "The Maid Café"… I just don't know about "The Maid Café" though. Do I want to publish it…hmm? Anyways, thank you and please enjoy!


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

Hikaru

"Morning, Hikaru!" Alfred shouted the moment I entered the dining room.

I jumped at the sound of his voice and gawked at him. _What the hell was he doing in my house? I thought I was in Japan…_ "Oh, yeah, you guys came yesterday didn't you?" I said as I sat under the warm kotatsu.

"Were you really that tired from yesterday?" Arthur asked, sipping a cup of tea and I nodded in response.

The others were sitting around the table. Some of them like Lovino and Ryuto were still groggy with their heads on the table but most of them were as energetic as always.

"Hikaru's up!" Feliciano cried. He hugged me from behind, nearly choking me.

"Good morning, Feliciano," I said, patting his head as I smiled at him. "You're awfully happy."

"Yup!"

"Did you have a good sleep last night?" Ludwig's voice asked me as he sat next to me.

I glanced at him and my heart stopped for a second or two. _You can't avoid him forever, Hikaru,_ I thought. "I slept well, thank you," I said nonchalantly.

"You two need to loosen up," Ryuto said. "It's like something happened between you two."

"What did happen between the two lovebirds, honhonhonhon?" Francis asked from across the table.

I could feel everyone's eyes on me and Ludwig so I shook my head. "Nothing," I said, glancing away.

At that moment, the door flew open with a bang and a familiar voice behind me shouted, "Who's ready to go sightseeing today!"

I looked back to see my uncle, who looked exactly like Ryuto and my father except with long hair, standing in the doorway dressed in a purple suit with a parasol in his hands. Then, I looked back to my twin who was looking at me as if to say, "This sucks."

"Let's go, kiddies," Oji-chan said, clapping his hands. "Up, up, up. We got a full day ahead of us if we want to make it to all the beautiful wonders of Japan. I am Hikaru's and Ryuto's uncle so you may call me 'Uncle Ayame' or 'Oji-chan' or even 'the Great Sensei Aya-oji-chan.' You may only call me one of those three names, okay? Now, get dressed and let's hurry out to the car. Our chauffeur is waiting for us to appear any moment now."

"We haven't even had breakfast yet, Oji-chan," I said to him.

Oji-chan leaned down to me and pinched my cheeks. "Hikaru, Hikaru, Hikaru. You're adorable as always and you are right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now, where's Satsuki-san? I must speak with her about having breakfast done faster." Thankfully, Oji-chan then burst into the kitchen and started bothering the caretakers.

"Hey, is all of your family that beautiful?" Antonio asked Ryuto. "I mean, your parents, Hikaru, your…um, uncle, and you yourself…you're so—"

"Breakfast!" Auntie's voice announced as she and the other caretakers served us.

Afterwards, when everyone had finished eating, Oji-chan packed all of us up and drove us around Tokyo for a while. Then, after we were done sightseeing in one part of Tokyo, we went to the mall for a little shopping. At the mall, while the boys were out around the mall area with Ryuto and Oji-chan, I found myself in a gift shop that sold Japanese charms.

I picked one up and read the character for 'love.' _An omamori_, I thought, reading the description: Blessed by the gods, this charm will bring a couple closer to each other and bond them for eternity.

"So who's the lucky guy?" Oji-chan whispered in my ear.

I nearly lost my balance and almost fell into the display. "Oji-chaaan," I whispered.

Oji-chan laughed. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about the omamori. I'm just here to tell you that I'm being called back to my studio and we'll continue as soon as I'm done." He took the omamori from my hand. "Here, Hikaru. Your uncle will buy this you for."

When the omamori was paid for, we left the mall and Oji-chan took us to his photo studio, where he worked as a photographer and a stylist for magazines. In the car, I fingered the omamori. _I have to get it to Ludwig soon_, I thought. _I _need _to get it to him._

I glanced at Ludwig sitting on the other side of Feliciano, who sat between us. My heart beat a little faster. _Damn_, I thought. _Why didn't I realize this before? I loved…I _love_ him so much…_

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I finally posted it! I'm sorry but it took me a while and a several rough drafts to get it this way…in the end, I was really happy… *laughs* But sorry for the wait! Enjoy! By the way, I changed Chapter 21 so instead of Rin saying to go to her photo shoot, she says that they should go to the mall instead. And enjoy!


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

Ryuto

I stood inside the dressing room and looked down at the first set of clothes a stylist had thrown at me. Oddly, it was exactly my size and I didn't remember telling Oji-chan what size I was in shirts and pants, not even in shoes but the impatient call of a stylist made me pull on the clothes without further questions.

"I'm starting to think my uncle planned this out," I muttered to Arthur when we exited the dressing rooms.

"I'm thinking this isn't such a great idea," Arthur said, trying to adjust the tight shirt that had the British flag on it. "This bloody outfit is making me itch."

"Well, you're looking ridiculous," Francis said as he took a look at the Brit. "I, on the other hand, look perfect unlike you."

"At least I don't look like I was barfed on by a purple monster," Arthur retorted.

"Hey, guys!" Alfred called out to us. "Do I look like a hero or what!" The American was dressed in an American pilot's outfit and he was holding the American flag in one hand and a pistol in another.

"Uh, yeah," I said, eyeing the pistol. "Just don't point that thing in your hand at us."

Alfred grinned at me and raised the pistol to my face. "You mean like this!" he shouted.

I threw up my arms in front of my face and shouted, "Don't do that!"

"Everyone, Ayame-san needs you over at the set," a woman said, interrupting us.

I took the pistol from Alfred's hand and nodded to the woman. "We're coming," I told her shakily.

We then followed her over to Oji-chan, where he was already taking pictures of two girls—Hikaru and Rin. Hiro stood behind Oji-chan, dressed and waiting for his turn. He spotted us and waved us over to him.

"Hey, Ryuto," he said, nodding at me. "Who're these guys?"

"These are mine and Hikaru's friends from school," I said and I introduced everyone to him. "They're here with us for vacation," I told him.

Hiro looked at the guys and grinned at them. "Welcome to Japan," he said to the guys. "I'm Hiro Ashiya, a friend of the twins."  
>"Did you say 'hero'?" Alfred asked Hiro in bewilderment.<p>

"His name's 'Hiro' but it's not spelled _h-e-r-o_, Alfred," I answered impatiently.

"What he said," Hiro told Alfred and he turned to the set. "Rin and Hikaru look like they could be sisters, friends even, if they didn't dislike each other so much." He pointed to the two girls who were sitting on white boxes. In the pose, Hikaru was passing a flower to Rin, who was smiling up at her.

I nodded in agreement.

"Hikaru doesn't like someone?" Feliciano asked. "Who, Ryuto? Why's that? What happened? Did something bad happen between them? Or do they just hate each other like big brother Francis hates Arthur? I never thought that Hikaru could hate some—"

"Rin and Hikaru don't like each other because they're girls and they get jealous easily," Hiro answered for me. "Rin's my younger sister and the two don't really like each other because…well, did I mention that they get jealous easily?"

"You did," Lovino said.

"Okay, girls!" Oji-chan called out to Rin and Hikaru. "Job well done! Now, go back into the dressing room and change while I get the boy's taken care of, okay?"

I watched as Hikaru sigh and step off the stage with Rin, who ran up to us and threw her arms around my neck. Hikaru, on the other hand, avoided us completely and headed straight into the dressing rooms.

"Ryuto, did you see me up there?" Rin asked me. "Did you think I was cute or really cute? Did you like my outfit?"

"I don't know," I said, pulling away from her. "Rin, I should tell you I have a g—"

But Rin wasn't listening to me. Instead, she caught sight of the guys surrounding me and Hiro. "Oh, my gosh! Who are these guys!"

"My friends," I told her. "Rin, this is Feliciano, Alfred, Arthur, Ludwig, Kiku, Francis, Yao, Ivan, Lovino, Gilbert, and Antonio. Guys, this is Rin Ashiya, Hiro's younger sister."  
>"Hi, boys," Rin said, smiling flirtatiously at the guys.<p>

"Hello!" Feliciano shouted. "I'm Feliciano and this is Ludwig! He's German!"

Rin's eyes instantly looked to Ludwig and took the giant German in. "Hi, there. What was your name? I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch it," she said to Ludwig, batting her eyelashes in that girlish way.

"Rin, stop flirting with the boys and get back into the dressing room," Oji-chan called to her. "Boys, I need you up here so will you please line up in front of me? I need to see what I'll be working with."

Hiro sighed. "Time to get this over with," he said to me and I nodded.

Then, we followed Oji-chan's instructions while Rin left. As the others started lining up in front of Oji-chan, I turned around to see if Hikaru was still around and I saw her. My twin was already dressed in a white laced dress with a matching bow in her hair. I was about to tap Ludwig on the shoulder so he could look at her but her expression stopped me. She was staring at Ludwig with a sad look like he was a million miles away from her. I glanced over to Ludwig, who had the same expression even though he wasn't looking at Hikaru.

Again, I started wondering about the two. My sister, who was so happy-go-lucky at times, deserved to be with someone she loved and I knew she loved Ludwig. Suddenly, I remembered what I told Basch when I started going out with Lily: that if Ludwig hurt Hikaru, I'd step in.

I just hoped Ludwig was returning his feelings for her in the same way so that I wouldn't have to break Hikaru's happiness by stepping in between them.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Sorry about the wait! I was busy reading these fan-fictions and oh my goodness! They're _so_ amazing! One fan-fiction I read is called "Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart" and it's a Germany and Italy pairing. I usually don't read yaoi but I did and I was amazed by it! (And also somehow freaked out but now I can accept my friend's freakiness about the subject.) On the other hand, it was amazing yet sad and sweet and if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it! I'm reading another yaoi pairing by the same author. It's an England and America pairing this time and their story coincides with Germany's and Italy's story. It's really cool and once I finish that one, there's another story with Austria and Prussia that I'll have to read soon. Another story I read lately was called "Remember Me" by my dear friend Zero-chan (aka zeroluver567) and it was so sad and so flipping amazing! There's another one I read and it's called "Hello Hurricane" and it's about Prussia/Gilbert and it's so, so, so sad! These stories just make me wanna cry or something! It's like I am sad, so very, very sad.

But anyhow, I finally got this posted because I was reading the stories above and I was also writing another fan-fiction story called "The Great War". It's about the Hetalia guys and they're in World War One or the Great War as it was called back then. I wrote it because we're doing WWI in history class and because I'm such a dorky nerd, I decided to write it so if you have the time, please check it out!

And thank you for reading and enjoy! Until next time, my dear readers, we shall meet again!


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

Hikaru

"I don't know, Lin," I said into my cell phone. "They might not have it in English here. It'll most likely be in Japanese." I hit the fridge door close with my hip after I pulled out a bottle of Shamrock's Mocha Café milk. My cell phone was in between my shoulders and on the other side of the phone line was Lin Yi Ling, one of the few friends I had that were girls

"But you can translate it for me!" Lin cried.

I picked up a butter knife and opened a jar of Nutella and started spreading the Nutella on a slice of bread. "But what if I get lazy?" I asked, mimicking her tone. "I already am feeling lazy." Nutella drizzled on my sweatshirt and I wiped it off with my thumb. "Crap, I just washed this too."

"Ugh, just check if they have it, Hikaru! I wanna read it so badly!"

"Fine. I don't even know what's up with you and your yaoi manga. Sometimes I wonder about you, Lin."

"Don't question me and my interests in yaoi. Just don't forget my manga, okay?"

"I'm making no such promises," I said. I slapped another slice of bread on top the Nutella-covered one and grabbed my Mocha Café and sat down on the couch.

"Oh, come on," Lin groaned. "Hey, have you talked to Ludwig yet?"

I took a sip of my milk and almost spewed it. "No, I haven't talked to him yet," I said shakily.

"What do you mean 'no'!" Lin's voice ran through my ears. "You're practically living together—"

"It's only for break, Lin, and—"

"—and think of how romantic it'll be on Christmas and then when the New Year comes around—"

"Can I just eat my sandwich?"

"No, Hikaru. You're listening to me at the moment and if you eat that Nutella sandwich right now, you won't hear a word I'm saying."

"How—"

"Anyway, Hikaru. You two have the most amazing chance to be together but you're just not taking it! Take it, Hikaru! Go up to him and tell him that you love him!"

"Lin."

"Yes, Hikaru?" Lin asked.

"Damn you," I said. "I'm gonna go eat my sandwich now, okay? I'll call you later, Lin."

"Don't forget my manga!" Lin cried. "That's the only reason I—"

"Goodbye, Lin," I said, laughing. Then I clicked the end button on my phone and picked up the remote for the TV. I covered myself with a blanket and played the _Scott Pilgrim vs. the World _movie that I had put on earlier before Lin called when Ludwig entered into the house. His clothes were covered with melting snow and his face was flushed. I stared at him as he took off his boots.

"Um, what happened to you?" I asked when he sat down on one of the other couches.

"Snowball fight," he replied with a shiver.

For some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was so damn beautiful at that moment that I just kept staring at him. Finally, his shivering broke me out of my daydream. I stood up and put the blanket around his shoulders and made sure that it didn't fall off him. As I turned away, he grabbed my hand and I looked back at him.

"Your skin is cold," he said, putting my fingers to his face.

"You need the blanket more than I do," I told him. "You'll get sick if you don't get warm."

"But you're still freezing."

"I'll be okay, Ludwig." I tried to pull my hand out of his grip but he wouldn't let me go. "Ludwig…"

"Why aren't you talking to me?" he asked, gripping my hand tightly.

"I am, aren't I?" I said as casually as possible.

"But you wouldn't talk to me before. You wouldn't look at me at all. Not at school or when we came here. It's been a week since school ended for vacation and you wouldn't talk or even look at me." His voice seemed angry and hurt at the same time, and it made me stop trying to pull my hand out of his.

Instead, I looked into his light blue eyes and let my fingers intertwine with his. I felt my eyes get hot with tears and my hand started shaking in his.

"What's wrong, Hikaru?" he asked, his voice softening.

"I wanted to," I whispered with my body starting to shake. "I wanted to so much but I couldn't. I—"

Suddenly, he pulled me toward him and I felt his lips press on mine. His kisses were gentle and soft at first but once he took my face in his hands, they got rough. Ludwig pulled my closer to him and started kissing my neck and made his way up to my mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck and I felt his hands starting to pull up my sweatshirt but I grabbed them. I broke away from him and stared at him.

"I'm sorry," I said. I pulled away from him and sat on the other couch and wrapped myself inside another blanket. I put my head on the couch's armrest and continued to watch the movie without thinking about it.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I know it's sudden but yes, Lin and Hikaru are friends. I thought that since Hikaru had a lot of friends that were guys, I decided to make Lin/Taiwan friends with Hikaru. Their meeting was in cooking class and it involved a frying pan and a certain Japanese boy with soulless eyes *cough cough* Kiku/Japan *cough cough* and a certain Hungarian girl that had to pry Lin from almost killing Hikaru with a frying pan.

I don't know what is up with these girls and frying pans. Jeez.

Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy!


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

Ryuto

"Someone pick up the phone!" Auntie called and Hikaru instantly ran out of the kitchen and made a head dive for the ringing house phone before I ever got off the couch.

"Hello?" Hikaru said into the phone as Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio applauded her. She threw a pillow at Gilbert and glared at the other two. "Hiro? Is that you?" My twin spoke in Japanese so that the others couldn't hear what she was talking about but she seemed to forget that there were a few other people in the house that spoke the language. "No, I'm not busy at the moment. Why would I be busy?" She paused. "Are you serious? It's…" She turned around and covered the speaker with her hand. "What's today?" she asked in English.

"The 25th?" I said, looking at her.

"It's Christmas, Hikaru!" Feliciano cried.

"You do know what Christmas is, right?" Lovino asked sarcastically.

Hikaru's eyes widened. "I gotta go, Hiro," she said into the phone. "Sorry, but I'll have to talk to you later." She hung up quickly and ran to her room. When she came back out, she was wearing boots, a jacket, and a beanie cup and she was pulling a bag onto her back.

"Where are you going?" Arthur asked.

"She forgot today was Christmas," I said to the Brit. "Don't mind her."

"Are you serious!" Alfred shouted, jumping up from the floor. "How can you forget about _Christmas_! Do you not see the giant Christmas tree we picked out the other day! What about the presents under the tree that Santa delivered! Tell me you see them!"

"I see them all right," Hikaru said. "I just…thought that Christmas wasn't until next week…"

"How in the world—" Antonio began.

"Just let me go to the store!" Hikaru shouted. "I have to pick up some stuff I ordered a day ago!" She let out a laugh that seemed to convince the others, but I saw her body shaking. Then, she slammed the door as she left.

"What the hell was that about?" Yao muttered. "I'm glad I don't have a sister."

"Yes, Yao," I said, sliding back into my seat. "Be glad that you don't."

"I'd be happy to have a sister that I could play with!" Feliciano said. "I grew up with Roderich and Elizabeta and Roderich was mean to me and Elizabeta dressed me up as a girl. And Lovino was a dickhead and everyone else was really scary." Feliciano's words received a scowl from his older brother.

"Well, I grew up with all of my brothers," Gilbert said. "And I had six of them, including Ludwig. I was barely around women in my childhood. I thought Elizabeta was a boy so she didn't really count."

"Oh, really?" Arthur said. "I was hated by my older brothers _and_ I had to look after that one"—he pointed to Alfred—"when my parents volunteered me for babysitting when I was younger."

"But I was adorable when I was a kid!" Alfred shouted. "You couldn't hate me!"

"I grew up alone with a yak as my only friend," Ivan said quietly. "A hamster rejected my friendship and my sisters were, well, you know. You're lucky, Ryuto, since you have Hikaru as your sister. My big sister was really weird and my little sister was really scary. They still are, though."

I looked at the Russian and then glanced at Ludwig, who was reading a book quietly as Feliciano played with his hand. "Natalia's your little sister, right?" I asked. "I think Hikaru has a class with her." Even though I already knew that Natalia was Ivan's sister, I was looking for Ludwig's reaction to my words and I got it.

The blonde German glanced up from his book without bothering to yell at Feliciano which I found really odd because normally he would shout angrily at the Italian. But this time, Ludwig just stared between Ivan and me with a somewhat scared expression.

"Oh, you know what?" Alfred said. "I heard that something happened between Hikaru and Natalia. I think a girl was telling her friend about it during class the day we got out."

"I think I heard something like that," Francis said. "Did they have a fight?"

"I don't think they were even friends," I said. "Hikaru told me that Natalia scared her so…"  
>"Well, yeah, but you know girls still fight with each sometimes," Alfred said. "Maybe it was over a boy? Girls like to fight over boys and stuff like that."<p>

"But Hikaru's dating Ludwig," Gilbert said. "It wouldn't make sense if—you and Hikaru are still dating, right, brother?"

We glanced at Ludwig, who was looking at Gilbert with a startled expression.

"What did you do to my sister?" I asked Ludwig.

"I didn't do anything," he said. "At least I think I didn't."  
>"You <em>think <em>you didn't or you _know_ you didn't? This is my sister we're talking about. As her brother, I have the right to stop you from hurting her."

"I know, Ryuto, and I respect that—" Ludwig began.

"If you respect that, then tell me what you did to her, Ludwig. Tell me now or else you'll have to break up with her."

Ludwig's eyes widened.

"Ryuto, I don't think you're being very reasonable," Kiku said.

"No, he has a right to say that," Ludwig said, looking away from me. "When we got out for vacation, Natalia kissed me and Hikaru must've seen. I—"

"Break up with her," I interrupted him. "Break up with Hikaru, Ludwig, the moment she gets back." I stood up from my seat and headed to the door. I started putting on my shoes and pulled on my jacket. "Or better yet, I'll do it for you." Then, I slammed the door behind me, grabbed my bike, and headed for the city which was only a few blocks away from where we lived.

I found my sister standing in front of a store, with a crowd around her. Hikaru was staring at the store, crying, but when I looked at her closer, I saw that she was staring at a couple in front of her. She was watching the couple swing each other around and hold each other. Bags lay at her side, forgotten as she watched the couple.

"Hey," I said.

Hikaru glanced at me and smiled. "Hey," she said back.

"So, did you really forget about Christmas or did you just want to get out of the house?" I asked.

She wiped her eyes. "I honestly forgot about it."

"So what'd you get me get me?"

"I can't tell you."

"What'd you get Ludwig?"

My twin pulled something out from her sweater pocket. She showed me an omamori—one with the Japanese character of love on it.

"You really like him, don't you?" I asked, taking the omamori from her.

"Yes," she whispered.

"You do know he cheated on you," I said. "Right?"

"Do you love Lily?" she asked instead of answering me.

I stared at my twin. "I don't—"

"Do you love Lily?" she repeated, looking at me.

"Y-yes, I love Lily but I'm talking about you right now."

"You and Lily should stay together," she said as she glanced away. "You're good for each other."

"Hikaru…"

My sister started crying again and I hugged her. "I love him, Ryuto," she said. "I love him so much. I…"

"I know you love him," I said. "I just can't stand him hurting you, okay?"

Hikaru hugged me back. "Okay…"  
>"Now, should we get back to the house? I left the others to come find you and they're probably wondering why we're taking so long. It is Christmas, after all."<p>

She wiped her eyes again and smiled at me, but I saw that she wasn't completely happy. "Merry Christmas, Ryuto," she said.

"Merry Christmas, Hikaru," I said. "I can't wait until you see what I got you."

My twin picked up her bags. "Me, neither." Then, we started heading back towards the house where the others were waiting.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Oh, I am so dead… I just wanna lie down and die (or quit this story since I'm practically writing to no one…) Yeah, I'll just lie down and die… For the story, Ryuto's kind of being a dickhead at the moment but he loves his sister. I feel bad…I don't know why, I just do… So thanks, I guess, for reading and…ugh… Yeah, I'm kind of talking to no one right now but thanks for reading…and all…


	26. Chapter TwentySix

Hikaru

A few days before school opened again, we went back to Switzerland and returned to our normal routines. I had to adjust to being without Ludwig but I can say I adjusted well since I started hanging out more with Lin and the other girls. I can also say that I avoided hanging out with the guys since it was uncomfortable being around them…but then again it was kind of impossible since their houses were close to mine and they kept coming around the house during their free time to hang out with Ryuto and I also kept running into them when I walked my dogs.

And then when school started, it got even more awkward.

I was rushing across the courtyard, trying to hurry to my first hour before the bell ever rang because I knew that around the school somewhere, the guys were hanging out—and if they caught me, that'd mean I'd have to endure the awkwardness…all of the awkwardness.

So, as I rushed across the courtyard, I spotted a blonde head with hair pushed back exactly like Ludwig's and I let out a yelp as I fell flat on my face.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" a voice shouted.

"I'm sorry!" I said, looking up. "I didn't see you there at all. I should've been paying attention to where I was going and I'm so sorr…" My voice faltered as a tall, dark-skinned boy stood in front of me with his arms folded across his chest. The boy was incredibly handsome with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He looked familiar, like I've seen him before.

I glanced away before he noticed me staring at him and I started gathering the things that fell out of my bag. "I'm really sorry," I said again without looking at the boy. "I didn't notice you there at all and—" I froze as he put his hand over mine.

"It wasn't me who you tripped over," the boy said. "It was Karpusi over there." He nodded to another boy who was sleeping soundly with a cat resting on his chest. "And don't worry about it. He doesn't feel a thing when he sleeps."

"But—"

The boy grinned as he put my things in my bag. "I said don't worry about it. I'm Sadik Adnan, by the way. I believe you've seen me with Kiku Honda before?"

"Oh, yes, I remember now," I said, thinking of when Ryuto and I just started Gakuen. "I'm Hikaru Sohma. I'm a friend of Kiku, too."

"See? We're friends through Kiku so don't worry about it." He stood up and stretched a hand out to me. "Need help?"

I nodded and took his hand and he pulled me up. "Thank you so much," I said, smiling at him.

Sadik grinned at me. "Anytime," he said, waving at me as I ran off to me class.

When I found the hallway where my locker was, I saw that Lin was waiting for me at the entrance. "So, I hear that you were with a certain Turk earlier," she said, smiling at me.

"What?" I said as I opened my locker. "I—" I glanced at Lin, who was grinning at me. "Where did you hear that?"

"I saw it, okay, Hikaru?" she said, laughing. "You're such a lucky girl. You have two guys going after you and they're so damn fine and—"  
>"Ludwig and I broke up, Lin, so that's that." I started putting a few textbooks into my bag when I realized that one of my notebooks was missing. "Oh, crap. Lin, my journal's gone… Ack, I must've dropped it earlier…" I glanced up to see Sadik standing in front of me with a grin on his face and holding a composition journal out to me.<p>

"I believe this is yours," Sadik said, handing me the journal.

I blushed and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lin grin at us. Then she squeezed me from behind. "Um, tha—"

"Hikaru says thank you, Sadik!" she cried, taking the journal from him.

"You're welcome. Anytime you need me, just call, okay?" He waved as he walked away, leaving Lin to squeeze me tighter and squeal in my ear.

"Oh, my goodness!" Lin shrieked. "Sadik _likes_ you! Oh, oh, oh! You two should go to the carnival this weekend! I hear it's going to be in town soon so you should ask him!"

I gawked at Lin. "I…can't do that! I barely know the boy and I think he's a junior, Lin."

"Still, he said to call him!"

I held up a finger. "Correction, he said to him anytime I _needed_ him. Besides, I don't even have his numb… What's that?"

She waved a piece of paper in front of me. "His number," she said, grinning. "I found it in your journal! This totally means he wants to get to know you! Text him, Hikaru! Wait, I'll do that for you!" Unexpectedly, Lin reached into my bag and pulled out my cell phone and started entering in Sadik's number into my contacts.

"Put it away," I whispered. "What if a teacher sees you with my phone? They could take it away and I'll have to call Auntie and I'll be so embarrassed when she comes to pick it up because I've never gotten in trouble and—what are you doing?" I glanced down at my phone and saw that Lin was texting Sadik, saying that it was me and asking if he wanted to go to the carnival over the weekend. "_Lin_," I growled, feeling my cheeks flush.

"I'm trying to text someone!" she said, holding the phone out of my reach.

I stretched for my phone and she started playing keep away. "Lin!" I shouted.

"Hikaru!" Lin shouted back as I made an attempt again to take it back. I tripped over her outstretched foot and stumbled towards a boy and slammed my face on his chest.

"I am so sorry," I said to the boy as I rubbed my face. "My friend here was trying to keep my—" I looked up and saw that it was Ludwig who I ran into.

The others were right behind him, staring at me, and I bowed my head.

"I'm very sorry," I said again. I fixed my jacket and grabbed my phone out of Lin's hand.

"Hikaru…" Lin said, running after me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. My hand went to my neck and instantly grabbed my necklace for comfort.

"Hikaru, you can tell me anything, you know," Lin said. "Like…what happened over your break? You never called me and when you came back, you barely told me anything…is that necklace a cross?" She reached for my necklace and held it up, showing a cross made of steel. "Did Ludwig give this to you? He wears one exactly like this…"

I nodded. "For Christmas," I said. "I gave him several books that I thought he might have liked but I still haven't given him the omamori..." I looked at my friend. "What do you do when you're in love but you can't have that person?" I asked.

Lin leaned on me. "You can hope," she said. "But just start doing the things _you_ love, Hikaru, and maybe you'll move on. And if that person loves you back, he'll come back to you…"

I fingered my necklace and tucked it under my shirt as I tried not to feel my heartbreak.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Yes, Gakuen Academy is in Switzerland. It's a neutral country and the League of Nations was originated in that country, so what the heck? *laughs* I feel like Basch has an advantage to being in their home country. He could laugh about it for all I care…

Ugh. I swear. I'm going to die. I need to end this story somehow…soon…hopefully. Damn. Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy!


	27. Chapter TwentySeven

Ludwig

She was wearing the necklace I gave her, and that surprised me. I thought she'd never wear it since her brother didn't want us together but she did and it made me glad. It made me feel like I had another chance, but then Sadik Adnan started hanging around her at school even though he was an upperclassman. I watched, at school, as he made her blush by touching her skin unexpectedly and laugh when he cracked a joke.

I felt jealous, all right, but I didn't want to hurt her as I did before…

"Ludwig, can you take your dogs out of the house?" Gilbert asked, interrupting my thoughts as he poked his head out of the kitchen. "I'm trying to talk on the phone and they keep looking at me."

I looked at the three dogs as they stared up longingly at Gilbert. "Blackie, Aster, Berlitz, we're going for a walk," I called out to my dogs. I grabbed their leashes, clipped them on to their collars, and headed out the door with the dogs.

"Hey, wait!" Gilbert shouted.

I turned around to see Gilbert running towards me.

"I'll come with you," he said once he caught up to me. "I'm just going to meet Francis and Antonio at the park, anyway."

"What are the Bad Touch Trio up to this time?" I asked.

Gilbert flashed me a grin. "Nothing."

"You are up to something. You're just not telling me."  
>"Oh, Ludwig. When am I ever up to something?"<p>

"I know you and your schemes, brother," I said, "and I know when you're up to something and when you're not."

"Is that supposed to mean something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but as long as it doesn't include me, then I'm fine."

"Ludwig, Ludwig, Ludwig. Why can I not include you in my schemes? You need a little more variety in your life, little brother, such as now for instance." He waved Francis and Antonio over. "Are they here?" Gilbert asked the two.

"Definitely," Antonio said. "They just arrived so we're set to go!"

"Ah, finally, something is about to be done!" Francis said, grinning at me. "You should be very lucky you have us as your friends, otherwise your romance would be as bland as Arthur's cooking."

"All right!" Gilbert shouted. "Operation Take Hikaru from Sadik is on its way! Ludwig, are you coming or what?" He turned around with Francis and Antonio also looking at me.

"You do not want to miss this, _mon ami_," Francis said. "You're about to get your girl back."

"Come on, Ludwig," Antonio said. "Do you want to be with Hikaru or what?"

"I do but I don't want to hurt her," I muttered.

Francis rolled his eyes and made me look at them. "Ludwig, you're my best friend's little brother even though you're not so little anymore. All my life, since I've known you and Gilbert, I have never seen you so happy with someone. Not even when you first became friends with Feliciano, who might've been your only friend if it weren't for us, but you were so happy with Hikaru."

"Francis is right, Ludwig," Antonio said. "Everyone deserves a chance at happiness, and I know Hikaru does, too. You should've heard her in music when you two were dating. She loves you a lot, Ludwig. I can tell."

"And I can't stand to think that my brother won't get his chance in life to be happy with someone he loves," Gilbert said. "I only want the best for you and this is only a part of the best that I want for you."

I looked at my brother and his friends, who were grinning at me. I reached up for my necklace and said, "You can do that for me, can you?"

"Oh, we can do more than that for you, brother," Gilbert said. "So, boys, what are we waiting for? We got a girl to take back! Operation Hang Sadik by his Toes and Get Hikaru to Date Ludwig Again is a go!"

"I thought it was Operation Cupid!" Francis shouted.

"Stop changing the names. You're confusing me," Antonio said, sighing.

"I'm the awesome me so I can change the name whenever I want to!" Gilbert said. "So, if you'll follow me, boys, we shall begin the operation!" He led behind a bench where Hikaru was sitting on a bench with her book in her lap but she just stared into the distance as if she were a million miles away.

My dogs instantly broke out of my grip and ran to Hikaru and jumped on her. I completely forgot that they knew her because of all the times she came over to my house.

"Scheisse, Ludwig," Gilbert growled, glaring at me. "Your dogs just gave us away…Ack, never mind. Hey, Hikaru! What a coincidence, huh? The dogs and I were just out for a walk and—"

"What do you want, Gilbert?" Hikaru interrupted as he sat down next to her.

"Why does everyone think I want something?"

"Don't think I don't know when you want something. I may have only lived here for several months now but I've learned things about you from Elizabeta."

"Yikes. I just want to ask you a question so listen up, Hikaru. Do you or do you not love Ludwig?"

Hikaru stared at him. Under the dimming light, she blushed a crimson color as she turned away. "That…is out of line," she said, standing up. "It's not any of your business."  
>Gilbert stood up with her and gestured to Antonio and Francis behind her back. "But," he said, trying to step in front of her, "do you love him? Ludwig, I mean?"<p>

"Answer the question, Hikaru," Francis said as he put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her back into the middle of the Bad Touch Trio. "You know you want to."

"I _don't_ want to, Francis," Hikaru retorted, shrugging his arm off her.

"Just admit that you do," Gilbert said, stepping in her way once again.

"Come on, Hikaru," Antonio said, holding her shoulders. "Relationships might end but feelings don't. We just want to know what your feelings are for Ludwig."

"I can't answer that," Hikaru said. She turned in the opposite direction and started walking away from them.

"Dammit, Hikaru!" Gilbert shouted at her back. "Get back here right now or—"

"Gilbert, just leave it," I said, shaking my head. "I don't want this anymore." Then, I whistled for my dogs and when they came to me, I headed back home with my hands in my pockets.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I'm happy Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ Why? Because I FINALLY got a comment! I haven't gotten one in a _long _time so it's like, "Yay!" *laughs* I can at least now say that I am not talking to myself. *sighs* I can just sing like （｀＾´）ノ and I can go cry like (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) because I am just HAPPY! Yeah! On a happy note, school is over for me in fifteen days (as of May 9, 2012) and my birthday is in thirteen days as of (May 9, 2012). I'm so excited! My friend told me she got my present already but I don't know what it is. She won't tell me but I will find out soon! 〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜 That is my happy dance. So, thanks for reading and enjoy! (,, ･∀･)ﾉ゛Here is a mustache for all your troubles, by the way (´┏o┓｀)


	28. Chapter TwentyEight

Hikaru

Right after I walked away, I heard Gilbert screaming at the top of his lungs, yelling for me to go back or else I'd regret it. I didn't turn around but the truth was that I was already regretting it. I _knew_ Ludwig was back there. I _knew_ he was watching us. I just didn't know what I wanted to do about it.

My hand instantly went up to the necklace from Ludwig and I started crying. Antonio said that relationships might end but feelings didn't, and he was right about it. My feelings were still the same from the first day I met Ludwig and they were never going to change.

I loved his stout features that were complemented with his pushed back blonde hair and his light blue eyes. I loved his voice that made me want to talk to him just to hear his German accent and the way it sounded so foreign. I loved how he was able to put up with Feliciano's hyper activeness, Gilbert's boasts of being awesome, and the bizarre ways of his friends. I loved his flaws most of all because that was something that made him _Ludwig._

"I don't want to talk, Gilbert," I called out when I heard footsteps following me.

"But I do," said Sadik's voice.

I looked up to see Sadik grinning at me.

"Were you expecting that albino, or his younger brother? Your ex, Ludwig?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what to expect anymore."

Sadik laughed and put an arm around me. "Well you can start expecting me from now on because I personally think I make much more preferable company."  
>"What's that supposed to mean?" I took his arm off my shoulders but he just wrapped it around my waist.<p>

"It means," he said, "that I can do better than that Beilschmidt boy. That's the truth. I can do _way_ better than him." Suddenly, he pulled me into him and pressed his lips against mine, tugging at them as if he were teasing me into kissing him back. Sadik looked at me when he stopped. "You know, you're supposed to kiss someone back if they kiss you."

"That's correct," I said, "but only if it's a kiss that's wanted."

"You didn't enjoy it?"

"I didn't know what to feel," I corrected him. I broke away from him and hugged myself. "I don't know, Sadik. I just…feel so confused right now…and I can't go around kissing guys. It feels wrong."

"But you and Ludwig broke up," he pointed out. "You said that yourself."  
>"I did. It's just that re—" Antonio's words repeated themselves in my head: <em>relationships might end, but feelings don't<em>. How could I explain that to Sadik? That I still had feelings for Ludwig when I said the exact opposite? "It's just that it's…everything's really…unclear."

Sadik pulled me into him again but he just hugged me this time. "Then let me make it clearer for you," he said. "I'll take you to the carnival this weekend and show you a good time. Then you can tell me how you feel. How does that sound?"

I stared at him for a while and looked away as I nodded. He gave me another kiss but his lips lingered on mine until I returned the kiss.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Sadik asked once I broke away.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," I said.

He kissed me once more and then ran off down the street. I stood in the same place, trying to get myself out of my head. Sadik's kiss, compared to the many ones I've shared with Ludwig, wasn't…enjoyable because I kept seeing Ludwig's face in my head. Almost for a second, I thought it was Ludwig that I was kissing but once I realized it wasn't, I got confused again. I wanted to cry, to yell at Sadik, or scream for Ludwig but I couldn't. I didn't know why, but I just couldn't.

After I went home, I took a shower, dried myself, and went inside my room. Once I got dressed, I threw myself in my bed and pulled my blanket over my head after I turned off the light. I hugged myself and realized that I was still wearing my necklace. In the dark, I fingered it and thought nothing but of Ludwig.

"What am I doing?" I whispered as I felt tears starting to roll down my cheeks.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

I realized that I would've probably finished this earlier if I hadn't been planning for a party for my graphic design teacher who is going to Ohio p(´⌒｀｡q) But I had to since I'm the one who suggested it so yeah… But in the end, I actually finished it…at midnight…so sorry if it's crappy (#／。＼#) However, on the other hand, I am _so_ excited for finals now! (Have you ever heard someone say that? It's so weird, even if it's written…) Want to know why? BECAUSE I GET TO DO A PRESENTATION ON A COUNTRY FOR HISTORY! Yeah! I couldn't get Germany, though. Or Italy. Or any of the main Hetalia characters. It really sucks because my teacher said that we couldn't do any of the countries we know a lot about so she gave most of us third-world countries. I, on the other hand, got Latvia! YEAH! I'm totally adding pictures of the Hetalia Latvia on my presentation (like I did for a couple other projects) and at the end of the slide show, I'm putting this gif on it that has a guy from some other anime (I can't remember which one though) spinning around on a chair, saying, "I Regret Nothing" because I really do regret nothing I have ever done in that class. Seriously. I've tripped sitting down in a desk and flipped myself over almost into a trash can, I've yelled out loud during a lecture because we were going over the Treaty of Versailles because Germany was blamed for the whole World War I (if you want to know the whole story, check out my commentary in my story "The Great War"), and spazzed out a whole lot during my first hour. Ah, good times…（￣～￣; ）

Anyways, back to the story. I _LOVE_ you guys for reading this! ＾▽＾ If you guys have any suggestions or plots or crap that you want to see in this story, comment below or send me a message and I'll fit it in! I was asked to do a carnival and have Ryuto and Lily go on a date so I shall do that in my next chapter! I just hope it turns out well. By the way, Hikaru, what the hell are you doing? Sorry. Rhetorical question. As I have mentioned before, I finished this at midnight so I have no idea or crap whatsoever that's going on. I seriously had to reread it over again to get an idea of what was going through my mind when I finished this chapter. Thanks for reading and enjoy! (┌・。・)┌


	29. Chapter TwentyNine

Ryuto

"Lily!" I called out as soon as I spotted her in the crowd. I ran to her and her brother and hugged her. "Thank goodness, I thought I'd never find you."

"I just got here," she said, smiling at me.

"Oh, sorry…"

"I want her home by nine and no later," Basch said, pulling us apart. "Got that?"

I looked at Basch and nodded. "Yes, sir," I said.

Basch glared at me but then he handed Lily some money. "Mom said to give you this to spend," he told her. "I'll see you home at nine. Have fun."

Lily smiled at her brother. "I will," she said.

When Basch left, I took Lily's hand and pulled her towards the ticket stands. "What do you want to do first?" I asked.

"Um, I've never ridden the Ferris wheel before," she said, blushing.

I smiled. "So we'll ride the Ferris wheel, then we can go play some games, and we'll buy something to eat. How does that s—"

"Hey, Ryuto," Francis's voice shouted. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"It's a carnival, Francis," I said, turning around to glare at the French. Behind him were the others, most of them looking bored except for Alfred and Feliciano who were both jumping around, begging the others to go on the rides with them. "Of course you'd see me here."

Gilbert smiled at me. "So where's your sister? Is she not here?" he asked.

"She's with Sadik and her other friends," I said, nodding over to a group that included Hikaru and Sadik. "Now would you please leave us alone? And why do you want to know where she is anyway? What business do you have with her?"

"Oh, Ryuto," Gilbert said. "As an older brother like you, I know how much you care for your sister's wellbeing and like you,"—he leaned in closer to me and whispered in my ear—"I know how much Ludwig and Hikaru care for each other so in exchange for the whereabouts of your sister and her new _friend_, I will ensure that my younger brother's and your sister's relationship will continue safely. I know you prefer that Hikaru be with someone other than that Turk, and I assure you that Ludwig would never hurt your sister in any way. My brother is absolutely protective over your sister. I know, because I tried insulting her naïve ways and he punched me in the chest. Gave me a bruise, too, but the point is that he really cares for her. Can't you just give them a chance?"

I watched the albino carefully. Everyone at school has told me the same thing over and over again ever since we got back from vacation but for some reason, it sounded better coming from him. It sounded more reassuring in a way. And he was right. I didn't like her being with Sadik. He made me nervous for her whereas I wasn't always worrying about her when she was with Ludwig.

"I'll give him another chance," I muttered.

Gilbert grinned at me. "Great! Now all I have to do is get Sadik away… Antonio, Francis! We have a mission to carry out! We'll see you later, Ryuto!"

"He left," I sighed once Gilbert and the others went away. I looked at Lily who was staring at me. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't plan this at all."

"It's okay," she said. "I really think that Ludwig didn't mean to hurt your sister. I heard Natalia bragging about it the day we got out for vacation…that she kissed Ludwig. She's dating that Lithuanian boy, you know, so I don't think that she really likes Ludwig that way."

"Then why did she kiss him? That's what I want to know."

"I heard she liked you but Hikaru didn't do anything about so Natalia went and kissed Ludwig. Natalia's weird…I've known her since junior high and…"

I stared at Lily. "It still doesn't make any sense," I said, shaking my head.

"But it was really nice of you to give him another chance. They deserve to be together and, you know, happy. They're good for each other."

I remembered my sister's words back in Japan when she told me that Lily and I should stay together. As I realized that Ludwig and Hikaru were good for each other, I hugged Lily. "She said that we should stay together, too," I told her.

Lily looked up at me with wide eyes. "Did…did she really say so?" she stammered.

I nodded. "She did, and I really hope we do."

She blushed. "Me, too."

When we got to the booth, I paid for our tickets and pulled Lily along to the Ferris wheel and rode it. The look on her face was amazing as we got higher and higher into the air and when the wheel stopped us at the top, she shivered and I pulled her closer to me. Then we got off the ride, she tugged me towards a stand and admired a gigantic stuffed sheep.

"Do you really want that?" I asked her, reaching for my wallet.

She nodded as she still stared at it with wide eyes.

I smiled and gave the man behind the stand money. "I'll play for the sheep," I told him.

The man then gave me three darts and told me to hit the target. If I wanted the sheep, he said, I'd have to hit the bull's eye.

"Easy," I said after he moved out of the way. Though I had my doubts about actually hitting the targets since I had horrible aim, I raised my first dart, threw it, and it hit close to the bull's eye but it wasn't close enough.

"Ryuto, you don't have to get it for me," Lily said. "Basch says I shouldn't be playing with stuffed animals anyway."

"I want to get it for you," I said, looking at her. "Besides, I think my sister still has her stuffed teddy from our father and she's older than you." I threw the second dart and winced as it hit the same area.

"I saw her earlier," Lily said quietly. "She wasn't with Sadik, though, but she was earlier."

I choked as I let the third dart fly from my hand. A shout went up from behind me and I stared as the dart vibrated in the bull's eye. "I did it," I whispered and the man handed Lily the sheep. "HA! I did it! Lily, did you see that!"

"I did," she said. "But…what about Hikaru?"

I looked at Lily and hugged her. "Hikaru will be all right. She told me not to worry about her anyway, so tonight it's about you and me, okay?"

Lily nodded and I leaned down. Instead of giving her a kiss on the cheeks, I kissed her lips softly and smiled when I broke away.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

Who thinks I suck? *raises hand* I DO! (?・・)σ Stop pointing at me…sheesh. I'm getting slow in writing because it's almost the end of the school year and I'm trying hard not to fail and run myself into the ground and oh, I just wanna get things over with. I didn't even want to take a test in my geometry class and I started my finals for graphic design (it's a week before school ends, mind you) and I'm _stressing out_. My final grade for graphic design is creating a poster about myself and I have to use all these elements in that design like using the blending mode in a photo, make a picture look 3-D, and all that crap. It's easy doing those stuff but when it comes to making a poster of myself, it isn't. I don't even know what I like. Ha…I don't even know what I like. I mean, I like anime, reading, and crap but somehow I can't put it all together in one good design! It's crap and my teacher wants me to design something for another person I don't even know and I'm trying to get this poster done so I can turn it in and not have to worry about anything ever again until next year.

AND I also got my final review packets for biology, geometry, and history and I'm like…shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. I _cannot_ get this done without my brain turning into a jellyfish—metaphorically speaking that is.

I need to get away…but that's what my tumblr is for…but then again, I start procrastinating on the site and I have to get off an hour later because I'll get even more addicted and yeah…I already am.

OH! So on the other hand, I read this adorable fan-fiction but once I read it, I realized that the author has NOT updated…which really sucks because now I have to wait again. O woe is me…

And on another hand, have I ever mentioned that Ryuto has a bad aim? I do…I almost killed my 7th grade P.E. teacher because of it and I think he still blames me for his torn ankle… Eh, whatever. ヽ(。_°)ノ But yes, Ryuto has a bad aim. He also doesn't like the Bad Touch Trio. He asked someone (Arthur, probably) why Gilbert's, Francis's, and Antonio's group was called the Bad Touch Trio and when he found out why (because…well, they're all perverts to some degree), he never trusted them again. I also asked my friend why they called those three that…she laughed and told me… It was weird…

But thanks for reading and enjoy!

P.S.

I wrote the above on May 15, 2012 and I never updated since then…it's May 20, 2012…so I apologize for the inconvenience…


	30. Chapter Thirty

Hikaru

I sat on a bench at the edge of the park, watching the carnival lights in the distant. It was cold but I didn't want to go home for some reason. I felt like sitting in the dark for once and not doing anything. I just wanted to be by myself only if for a night or even just a moment.

I sneezed and shivered in my jacket. I should have worn something thicker like Auntie had told me to but I thought I'd still be at the carnival where it was warmer… I pulled my jacket closer around me and was about to shiver again when I felt another jacket drape around my shoulders.

I looked up and saw Ludwig watching me intently. Instantly, I glanced away and shrugged off his jacket. "I don't need this," I said, handing it to him.

"You need it more than I do," he said, taking it and draping it around my shoulders again. "You'll get sick if you don't get warm."

I realized that those were almost the exact same words I used back during vacation when I put the blanket around him so I nodded, feeling my face flush. Ludwig helped me into the jacket and he buttoned it up for me.

"You're wearing it," he said, taking my necklace in his hand.

I nodded, thinking of nothing to say to him.

"Where's Sadik?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said, shrugging. "He left me earlier after I went used the restroom. Weren't you with Feliciano and nii-san earlier? Where are they?"

"Lovino made Feliciano go home and Kiku got sick… Do you want to walk?"

I looked at him. "Sure," I said, shoving my hands down the pockets of his jacket.

"It's nice outside," Ludwig said as we started walking down the sidewalk.

"It'd be nicer if it weren't so cold." I exhaled and saw my own breath. As we neared the carnival, I heard a song playing loudly: _Tell me again was it love at first sight when I walked by and you caught my eye? Didn't you know love could shine this bright? Well, smile because you're a deer in the headlights._ "I love this song," I said, listening to it. "I finally got the notes for it so now I could play it on the piano." I took a breath and sang along to the lyrics, "'Tell me again was it love at first sight when I walked by and you caught my eye? Didn't you know love could shine this bright? I'm sorry I ever tried deer in the headlights...'" I stopped as soon as I heard the quietness coming from Ludwig and flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry. I kind of got carried away."

"No, it's okay. I'd like to hear you play it one day."

I felt my face burn even more. "Um, you wouldn't. I haven't been practicing for a while and—"

"You're really good at the piano, Hikaru," Ludwig said. "I've heard you play before, remember?"

I nodded and shivered even though I had the extra jacket on.

"Are you still cold?" he asked.

"Kind of," I whispered. Ludwig was looking at me in a way that made me blush harder. I felt like I did when I first met him: I couldn't stop blushing due to the fact that he was just looking at me.

"I have hot chocolate at my house if you want. That'll warm you up."

I nodded and then he led me to his house where it was warm and comfortable.

"Hikaru, sweetie, what brings you here?" Mutti asked, hugging me when I entered through the door.

"Hot chocolate," I said.

"I'll make it, Mutti," Ludwig said, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be fine."

Mutti smiled at me and kissed my cheek. "You two have fun," she said. "I'll go see what Vati's doing upstairs." Then, she hurried upstairs and once we heard a door close, Ludwig helped me out of his jacket.

"You can warm up by the fire if you want," he said. "I'll get our hot chocolate ready."

I nodded and took off my jacket and hung it on the coat rack. Then, I walked over to the fireplace where framed photos were lined up. Even though I've been to his house a dozen times before, I still liked looking at the photos of Ludwig when he was younger. There were photos of him still wrapped in a blue blanket in the arms of Mutti and surrounded by his brothers and father. I found a photo of him from when he was around eight years old with his brothers grouped around him. He had his hair pushed back like always and he stood with his hands behind his back and there was a slight smile on his face. It was my favorite, out of all of them, because I thought he was adorable as a small child…

And there was a picture from the photo shoot of me and Ludwig. I had on a white dress while Ludwig stood next to me, dressed handsomely in a white buttoned up shirt and black pants. Oji-chan had me hold his hand that rested on my shoulder and lean on him like I always did before. I remembered the feeling of having his chest to lean against again, the ticklish sensations in my stomach that made me want to close my eyes and dream…

"Hikaru," Ludwig said, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned around to see him holding a mug out to me full of steaming hot chocolate. "Thank you," I said, taking it from him. I blew on it, and sipped it to taste a rich chocolate that I've only tasted before in his house. "It's delicious."

"I knew you liked German chocolate so I added it to the mixture."

"It really is delicious," I said, taking another sip. I sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, where it was warm and cozy, and just stared into it. My heart seemed like it was pounding—_aching —_for the feel of his touch on my skin and for his light blue eyes that made me blush with excitement.

"Hikaru, are you all right?" Ludwig asked as he sat next to me.

I looked at him. "Yeah, I'm good," I said, setting my mug down.

"Are you cold? I can get you a blanket if you want."

When I didn't reply, I heard him stand up and head upstairs. After a minute of two, I felt a thick blanket drape around me. Then, when I felt Ludwig's hands leave my shoulders, I grabbed them and pulled myself up to my feet, feeling the blanket fall off.

"Wait," I said, weaving my fingers through his. "Ludwig, I've wanted to talk to you about s—"

Suddenly, his breath was on mine and my heart pounded faster in my chest as he pressed his lips to mine. His arms wrapped around my waist, holding me in my place as we kissed. I gathered his shirt in my hands and pulled myself up to his full height. Our legs tangled together and we fell to the floor with a loud thud but I didn't care. At that moment my mind was on him and that was all that I was thinking about.

I felt him roll out from underneath me and push himself to my body. I let out a small cry when I felt him hold my hips toward his. My mind spun wildly, and I could feel my hands shaking as I held onto him while we kissed. I started to get scared of what would happen next if I let this continue. The terror of what my brother or any of my family would say if they found out started to give me the chills and Ludwig seemed to sense this.

"What's wrong?" he asked, pulling me to a sitting position. He reached over and smoothed out my hair. I saw that in the process, I had made his neat hair come undone so that it hung over his forehead.

"I can't…do that," I said. "Ryuto would get mad. I'm not supposed to be with you, remember?"

Ludwig stared at me. He opened his mouth, starting to say something but Gilbert's voice interrupted him:

"Seriously, Hikaru," he said. "You need to stop listening to people and start acting for yourself."

Ludwig and I looked up to see Gilbert standing at the door, pulling his shoes off. He shook snow out from his hair and sat down on the couch behind us once he took of his coat.

"As for you, brother," Gilbert said, "you need to start taking the things you want by force and no buts. Besides, I already talked it over with Ryuto. He said you can be with Ludwig again if you stop handing around that Turk." Gilbert stood up again. "I'm gonna make myself some hot cocoa. You two lovebirds figure out what you want in the meantime, okay?"

I looked back at Ludwig when Gilbert left the room. "What…do you want?" I asked.

Ludwig stared at me for a moment. I couldn't tell if he was thinking about it or just staring at me with a blank expression. Another moment passed and my phone vibrated in my pocket. When I took it out, I saw that Ryuto had texted me, asking where I was. I replied quickly, telling him that I'd be home soon.

"I have to go," I said, standing up. I grabbed my jacket and started to pull it over me when something fell out of the pocket. The omamori lay on the floor with the Japanese character for love glittering in the firelight. I picked it up and handed it to Ludwig. "I was supposed to give this to you at Christmas, but I never got the chance. Bye, Ludwig. I'll see you around, I guess." I pulled my jacket over my head and went out the door, closing it behind me, and headed for my house.

Was I so stupid to believe for one second that he wanted me back? His silence said everything in those moments so why did he bring to his home? I felt so humiliated and stupid like an idiotic girl who keeps going back to a guy because she's apparently in love with him... I knew what I wanted but I didn't know what Ludwig wanted and there was no way I was going to go through everything all over again.

I pulled out my phone and started dialing my father's phone number. It'd be morning back in Japan and he was usually up around then. He'd answer me and I'd tell him my decision.

"Hikaru, is that you?" my father's voice asked, sounding groggy over the phone. "Do you know what time it is over here?"

"Sorry, Papa," I said. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"No, Papa. Nothing happened. I just wanted to know if you'd help me. I've just been a little homesick and I wanted to go back to Japan. Can you take me?" I almost choked on my words because I knew that he'd agree.

Papa became silent for a moment. "Yes, sweetie," he said. "I'll send you a ticket soon. When do you want to leave?"

My throat became dry. "As soon as possible," I answered.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

As school nears the end, my brain is going to die. It happens every summer but this time I can't quite afford it because I have to do homework for my AP United States History class for next school year so now I have to do some research, watch some movies, and read some books on freaking U.S. History…and write essays about specific topics. I should've started it because I'm probably going to Guam (look it up because that's my homeland!) during the summer for a month or so and I'll be too busy to do my homework.

But meanwhile…I think I am close to finishing this story! WHOO! ...Yeah…yay… I don't want to finish it but it has to end somewhere. However, I've already decided that I'll write little side stories about the other guys since I barely (and sadly) included them. It'll be like 'Iggy in Love' or something and I'll just post it under Gakuen Academy.

So for now, I will say thanks for reading and enjoy!


	31. Chapter ThirtyOne

Ryuto

It felt oddly lonely without my sister. A few days passed since the night of the carnival when she came home and said she made up her mind. The same night, we had an argument about it and as I sat in the group of my friends, I remembered it exactly.

When I demanded where she had been earlier, she said she was thinking about moving back to Japan. She told me she called our father and he agreed to her decision to leave Switzerland and head back for Japan to finish school there. She said that it was decided that I'd stay when she left since I had friends and Lily at Gakuen.

In reply, I told her that she couldn't leave. That was when she started yelling at me, screaming that I wasn't the one to make her decisions and that she was old enough to go back to Japan by herself. She started crying then and I didn't know what to do. All I did was run up to my room and lock myself inside, angry at her for not telling me earlier.

"Hey, are you okay, Ryuto?" Alfred asked me, looking up at me. He was squatting in front of me while I sat on a bench with the others surrounding me. "You're looking…mad or worried and you're usually…not mad…but you're mostly worried and…well. You know. "

I shook my head. "I'm fine, Alfred," I said. "Thanks for…worrying about me, though."

Alfred grinned at me, making my stomach twist with guilt. "Oh, phew. I thought you were because your sister's sick."

"Oh, yeah. Probably."

The bell rang at that moment, signaling for first hour and everyone scattered. I picked up my bag and saw that Kiku was waiting for me.

"Is your sister still packing?" he asked me.

Unlike the others, I only told Kiku, Matthew, and Lily because they were the only ones that I could trust not to freak out on me. A few of them—like mainly Alfred, and Francis—would definitely start yelling. I didn't know if Ludwig knew because he wouldn't talk to anyone except for Feliciano and Kiku. Gilbert was mad at his brother and would start yelling at _him_ for some reason. Feliciano would definitely start crying if he found out and Lovino would start screaming at him to grow up. I didn't want to pop the others' bubbles by telling them my sister was leaving because they'd probably start bugging me about it over and over again. And so, I was left to trust only three people to do the exact opposite of what my friends would do.

When I told Lily, she said she respected my sister's decision but that she should stick it out for a while longer to see what would happen. Matthew said that he admired Hikaru for going alone without me. And Kiku told me that she'd be happier back in Japan.

"Yes," I said. "She's taking her clothes with her and we're sending her things later on. She's supposed to come back today to transfer her credits out of Gakuen."

"When does she leave?"

"Today after school," I told him. "Will you come?"

Kiku nodded.

I smiled at my friend. "Thanks, Kiku. It means a lot."

A few hours later after school ended, we dropped Hikaru off to the airport where she would wait for her plane. When we got home, I decided that every other day, I spend inside to try to get used to the silence. In the other days, I'd invite a friend over or go out with Lily for a picnic or for a walk. I'd try to busy myself while trying to get rid of the guilty feelings in my stomach.

I started playing the violin for a while, guiding the bow over the strings. Before I knew it, I recognized that the song I was playing was the one that Hikaru and I had played together before. Even though it was the same song, there was a female and a male version of it and we'd sing it together while playing our instruments to anyone who'd listen to us at the time.

I stopped suddenly, cutting off the song before it ended and stared at the empty piano. In my stomach, I felt another twist of guilt like before when Alfred grinned at me.

"Oh, don't stop playing," said Francis's voice. "It was so sweet. Didn't it make you want to cry, Gilbert?"

I turned around to see the group crowding the doorway, looking at me.

"Yes, Francis," Gilbert said. "It really made me want to cry. It's just that I'm too upset with Ryuto to even _think_ about crying."

I stared at him for a moment and turned back to playing my violin. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said over the music.

"Maybe you know that your sister is leaving," Antonio said.

"So? It's her decision," I told them. "If she wants to leave then it's fine by me."

"What about us then?" asked Feliciano. "You're being really selfish, Ryuto."

The bow scraped across the violin strings, causing a noise like nails scratching a chalkboard. "Selfish?" I shouted, spinning around to face them. "_I'm _the selfish one? Why don't you go and talk to Hikaru to see for yourself who the selfish one is here! She'sleaving because of your brother, Gilbert. So now who's the s—"

Suddenly, I felt Gilbert yank on my shoulder and start dragging me downstairs.

"Where the hell are you taking me!" I shouted, trying to release myself out of his grip but he kept going.

"We'll be right back !" Gilbert shouted to Auntie as we passed her on our way out. He pushed me into the backseat of his car where it was waiting outside the house with all the other's cars.

Ludwig was already sitting in the passenger seat with a book in his lap but he wasn't reading it. Instead, he was looking out the window towards nothing. Even though his face was expressionless at that moment, his eyes gave him away. The look in his eyes was something that Hikaru sometimes wore when she was thinking about something that she lost and that she really wanted back.

But before I could say anything to him, Gilbert got in and started the car. I didn't say anything to protest as Gilbert pulled the car out of the driveway. He sped down the street and I knew the others were following behind us.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Gilbert looked at me through the rearview mirror and glanced over to his brother. "The airport," he said and he pulled into the International Airport of Switzerland where we dropped my sister off earlier.

When we got out of the car, Francis and Antonio pushed me while Ivan was practically dragging an unwilling Ludwig inside the airport as if we were prisoners.

"Hikaru's plane leaves in about ten minutes so we have some time," Alfred said to the others. "Come on, everyone! We got ourselves a friend to take back!"

"How do you know when she leaves?" I demanded as we ran past security.

"That, my friend, is confidential," Antonio said, grinning.

"No it isn't, you bastard," Lovino shouted. "Kiku told us!"

"What!" I shouted, glancing over to Kiku who gave me an embarrassed smile.

"There's no time, you twits," Arthur yelled.

"Yeah, Hikaru's going to leave and we'll never get to see her again!" Feliciano cried, making us run faster.

Finally, we got to the area where we left Hikaru before to see that she was still there. She was sitting by herself with her suitcase at her feet and her earphones plugged into her ears. From where we stood, we could see that she was humming to a song as she watched a plane departing from the airport. My twin was staring at the planes with her expression and it made my stomach churn with guilt again. The guilt rose to my throat and at that moment, I felt like barfing it out along with the lunch I had earlier.

I looked at Ludwig and he caught my eyes. "You know," I said, gulping down my guilt. "It's not your fault, Ludwig. I…I'm sorry about what I did. I thought I was…protecting my sister. And…she really does love you, even if she hasn't told you. I can tell."

Ludwig stared at me and then he looked back at Hikaru. For a second, I thought he was going to say something but he started walking towards my sister with his hands in his pockets. I turned around to the others to see them sigh with relief. Feliciano was jumping up and down, and he almost shouted but we pulled him to an ice-cream bar. There we sat on the stools and watched Hikaru jump up from her seat with a yelp as Ludwig greeted her.

We watched as Ludwig started talking to Hikaru, making her sit down while he knelt in front of her, gesturing to her. She spoke to him and I saw Francis's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets as she covered her eyes with her hands. Ludwig pulled her hands away from her face and kissed her. He put his arms around her and was saying something to her while she cried in his arms. She started nodding and I could tell that she was saying 'yes' over and over again.

"It sure as hell isn't his fault," Gilbert said angrily as the others started celebrating, ordering ice-cream from the clerk behind the bar. "What were you thinking before this ever happened? I thought we had an agreement. Dammit, Ryuto. You need to make up your mind. You and your sister have problems but everyone else in the group has them, too. Heck, everyone in the whole school has a problem. That's why you two belong at school. Besides, your sister really likes my brother. I can tell because—"

"Because he gave you a bruise," I said, getting irritated from Feliciano's shouts in Italian that were coming from behind us. "I know."

"I _was_ going to say because of the way they look at each other. You should see them at my house or at least pay attention to them whenever they're together."

Gilbert looked over to his brother again. At that moment, I could tell how much Gilbert loved his brother. His expression told me he'd go through anything—perhaps everything—to make Ludwig happy. I was always thinking that Gilbert was a selfish, self-claimed awesome idiot and yet, I felt just like him—trying to make my sister happy by doing anything for her.

I sighed and sunk in my seat. "I hate you so much," I muttered and I ordered ice-cream for the both of us.

Gilbert laughed. "Glad you understand, Ryuto," he said. "But mein gott. It gets annoying when they're cuddled together and for some reason, Mutti absolutely loves it. She's probably planning their wedding right now."

When I got it, I shoved my spoon into my ice-cream and stuffed it into my mouth. Surprisingly, my stomach handled the dairy product very well since I apologized to Ludwig. "Tell me about it," I said when I swallowed. "Father's been calling and asking about what they like and stuff. I think he's arranging their marriage or something."

The albino sucked in a breath and slapped me on the back as he grinned like a maniac. "And in the end, if they _do_ get married, we'd be brothers! Oh, then you'd have to meet our older brothers, too, and Mutti and Vati and—"

"I'm not the one getting married to your brother so—"

"You'd still have to meet them," said my sister's voice.

I turned around to see Hikaru and Ludwig standing behind us as they held hands. Ludwig was pulling Hikaru's suitcase. Feliciano ran up to them and hugged them both, still crying in Italian.

"I'm not going anywhere, Feliciano," Hikaru said, patting his back. "Shh, it'll be okay."

"So you're staying?" I asked her.

My twin smiled at me. "Yeah, I decided to. I called Papa and he said it was fine. Turns out he was expecting someone to change my mind about going back home." Her eyes flickered over to Ludwig, who was dealing with Feliciano at that moment, and a slight blush came over her face. "I'm…really glad you came for me. I was…I was already thinking about staying…and…"

"But you're staying, Hikaru-chan," Kiku said. "That's what matters."

"Yeah!" Alfred shouted. "We can't have one Sohma without the other."  
>"I can't believe I'm saying this," Arthur said, "but Alfred's right. You two are twins and it wouldn't seem right. It's like having biscuits without tea. It can be very bland and boring."<p>

Hikaru and I stared at Arthur.

"Yeah, I still have no idea what biscuits are," I said.

"But it's still very nice of you guys to get me, so I'm going to stay here," Hikaru said.

"Hey, didn't you transfer your credits out of school already?" Yao asked Hikaru. "You aren't a student anymore, right?"

Hikaru shook her head. "I was actually planning to go to Japan, find a school, and then transfer my credits out of Gakuen," she said. "So technically, I'm still a student there."

"And what about you two?" Francis asked with his eyes still bulging like a frog's. "Are you dating again?"

"Yes," Ludwig said. "What about it?"

Francis shouted and started yelling in French. Antonio and Gilbert joined their friend, yelling in Spanish and in German at the same time.

"So what now?" I asked. "You two are back together, everyone else is going crazy, and the world's still spinning. What's going to happen next?"

Hikaru and Ludwig smiled at each other.

"Life," Hikaru answered as she leaned on his chest and she gave me a smile "Life is going to happen next, Ryuto."

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

The end! *laughs* Nah. Not yet. I still have one more chapter to go…or shall we say epilogue, honhonhon? (Oh, goodness. Francis is getting to me.) But no worries! After the epilogue, I promised short stories and there will be short stories! That's if, I remember… But I probably will since school's out! Yeah, I'm a free bird! _I'm like a bird, I dream of flying awaaaay._ Oops. Sorry. I got carried away… *laughs* However, I still have to do summer homework for my AP US History for next school year and read books for my AP English 11, too…which really sucks and I'll probably procrastinate about it until the end of vacation or something…

Anyway, as the author of "Gakuen Academy" I can say the ending is CHEESY! Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy as hell! *laughs* But I do love cheese…and I love this story. My first story and I'm already ending it… 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ I'm so sad, so very, very sad...but I _must_ wait until I have written the epilogue to be sad. And then I'll cry. And be sad…very…very…sad.

On the other hand, I'll try to get the short stories done so I'll keep updating until I have written a short story for the other characters! Suggestions are welcome (even though no one sends them in) and I'll take it and go _voila _with it! The short stories will probably take place before and after this whole plot/crap happens or probably even during it…like "Iggy in Love." Read it yet? It's under a separate story title but I'll delete that and put it under this one later (so if you're reading this after I deleted it, you can just click on the 'next chapter' button).

And before I go, I should say/ask several things:

I know Hikaru's acting selfish but I accidentally made her that way

Does she really sound selfish to you guys as the readers?

I have no idea what the traffic laws and airports in Switzerland look like so sorry…

Biscuits are British cookies and crumpets are British biscuits…get it?

It took me a long time to understand what the difference between British biscuits and American biscuits were. I was born in America so yeah.

I wanted this epic fight scene to happen between Hikaru and Natalia/Belarus but then I realized that I never said anything about Hikaru being a fighter.

Upon the above statement, I started writing a parallel meeting between the Sohma twins and the Hetalia gang where the twins are these famous Japanese martial artists and when they arrive at Gakuen, Rome (who would have been the principal but I forgot to mention that somewhere) and Germania (the probable vice-principal) tested them in a fight scene and the twins had to fight Rome and Germania… It was really interesting.

Also, I wrote this other parallel meeting where Hikaru and Ryuto are a little tougher than they are now and they're invited to play soccer by Alfred and they beat the rest…

One last statement… I FINALLY WROTE A LONG CHAPTER FOR RYUTO AND I'M SUPER PROUD OF MYSELF FOR DOING THAT SO YEAH! o(´^｀)o

So thanks for reading and enjoy this lovely bear…I mean enjoy this story!

(●￣(ｴ)￣●) I wish it was a panda…


	32. Chapter ThirtyTwo: Epilogue

Hikaru

_Several years later…_

"Luddy," I called out. "Luddy, where are you? It's time for lunch."

"Boo!" Luddy's voice came from behind me. A little face with blonde hair and light blue eyes peered around my waist. My little boy looked exactly like his father, with his hair pushed out of his face. He wore a white buttoned up shirt and black shorts since that's what Ludwig gets for him almost all the time. "I scared Mama, didn't I?"

I smiled. "Yes, you did," I said, picking him up in my arms. "I made you your favorite sandwich today. Rolled cold cuts with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes just the way you like it." I set him down at the table and put a plate of sandwiches and lemonade in front of him.

"I love you, Mama," he said, smiling up at me.

"I love you, too, Luddy," I told him. I turned around to see Ludwig coming in with Hana in his arms. When he was holding our daughter, Ludwig looked so gentle that I just wanted to cry.

"She just woke up," Ludwig said, smiling at Hana. When he handed her to me, he gave me a quick kiss. Then he went over to Luddy and smoothed back our little boy's hair as he talked to him.

"Are you hungry, Hana?" I asked her, kissing her cheek. My little girl had pale blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She was so adorable in her dress and even more adorable when she was still sleepy.

Hana nodded sleepily in response and rested her head on my shoulders.

I set her down next to her brother at the table and fixed her sandwiches and a cup of lemonade. By the time I gave it to her, Luddy was talking about playing with the children down the street while Hana was staring at her brother in admiration. When they finished eating, the doorbell rang and Luddy jumped up from his seat.

"Uncle Gilbert's here!" he shouted as he ran to the door.

Hana slid down from her seat and ran after her brother in a hurry to greet their uncle with Ludwig and me following behind them. When we got to the front door, Luddy had already opened the door and let Gilbert inside the house.

"Ready to go, Luddy?" Gilbert asked, picking him up.

"Yup!" Luddy shouted as Gilbert spun him around.

"Be careful with him, Gilbert," I warned my brother-in-law. I took Luddy from his arms and set him on the ground.

"Oh, Hikaru, stop being so over-protective," Gilbert said, grinning at me. "Be a little more like me, won't you?"

"Yes, because I will definitely encourage my daughter to cause havoc with Francis's and Antonio's boys."

"They're only carrying on their father's tradition," Gilbert said, rolling his eyes. "The Bad Touch Trio has formed once again! So, Luddy, Hana, what are we waiting for? Let's go to the park!"

"Make sure they get home before seven, brother," Ludwig told him.

"And make sure they're always within your sight," I added. "And—"

"I'm an awesome uncle, sis, so don't worry about them," Gilbert said, pushing my children out of the house.

When they left, Ludwig closed the door and looked at me as I sat down on the couch in the living room. He sat next to me and I wrapped his arms around myself and kissed him.

"You worry too much," he said.

"You do, too," I said. "You're always panicking when Hana or Luddy falls or runs. Besides, they're with Gilbert and I sometimes worry about him."

"See? You're always worrying."

"Well they're our kids, Ludwig. I have a right to worry."

Then, I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heart beating steadily. I looked over towards the front of the room where a shelf sat with pictures lined up on it that had everyone from Gakuen in them:

There were candid shots of us on the last days of the rest of the school years; photos from the many times we went to the park near the school; prom pictures; and us at a beach in Italy.

Finally I stared at the pictures that had me holding Luddy and Ludwig holding Hana. In another picture, Ryuto was with Lily and their two daughters, Mizuki and Rose. Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio were with their families in one picture. Ivan was holding his wife and his son in another. Yao was standing behind his wife, holding her shoulders, while their son and daughter surrounded them. Alfred, his wife, and his son beamed up at us with their American grins. Lin had her arms around Kiku, smiling, as he held their daughter in his arms. In another picture, Arthur and his wife were smiling shyly at the photographer with their son in front of them. Next to that picture, Feliciano was hugging Lovino, who had a scowl on his face, while Feliciano's son and Lovino's daughter were imitating their fathers. Lastly, there was a recent group photo of all of us from Gakuen with all of our children around us.

All of those photographs reminded me of the times at Gakuen back when we were still in high school. Now we were the parents of our kids and our kids were friends with each other, carrying on our traits and acting exactly like us...

I looked back towards the picture of me and Ludwig with our children and sighed.

"What is it?" Ludwig asked me, looking at the same picture.

"Nothing," I said. "I was just thinking…" Ludwig glanced at me and I smiled at him. "I was just thinking that I love you."

Ludwig's cheeks were tinged with pink. "I was thinking the same thing, too."

I blushed in return, and I couldn't help but think that everything was perfect.

* * *

><p>A Note from your Author:<p>

So it's actually the end now… ｡･ﾟﾟ･ (д) ･ﾟﾟ･｡ How sad…but the good thing is, I'm out of school for summer vacation! I'm so happy and I get to do whatever I want…but I'll probably get a job now since I'm of age so I can get the things I want without having to ask my parents…

I'm sorry about the ending… I got bored and I SUCK at writing endings but I needed to write it because I want to write other stories so badly…which reminds me that I have to write those short stories…

On the other hand, thanks for reading and enjoy!


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